  Next-to-leading order corrections to fragmentation functions in a light-cone
gauge are discussed. This gauge simplifies the calculation by eliminating many
Feynman diagrams at the expense of introducing spurious poles in loop
integrals. As an application, the short-distance coefficients for the
color-octet $^3S_1$ term in the fragmentation function for a gluon to split
into polarized heavy quarkonium states are re-calculated to order $\alpha_s^2$.
We show that the ill-defined spurious poles cancel and the appropriate
prescriptions for the remaining spurious poles can be determined by calculating
a subset of the diagrams in the Feynman gauge. Our answer agrees with the
recent calculation of Braaten and Lee in the Feynman gauge, but disagrees with
another previous calculation.
