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| Affiliation | Republican |
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| Name | Douglas Bruce |
| Address |
Colorado Springs, Colorado , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
August 26, 1949
(74 years)
|
| Contributor | RBH |
| Last Modifed | David
Jun 27, 2021 07:36pm |
| Tags |
Censured - Convicted -
|
| Info | Douglas Edward Bruce (born August 26, 1949) is a legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado. A conservative activist, member of the El Paso County, Colorado county commission, and author of Colorado's Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Bruce was appointed to a vacant seat in the Colorado House of Representatives in December 2007. He currently represents House District 15, which encompasses eastern Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Bruce graduated from Hollywood High School, then Pomona College with a double major in history and government, and then law school at the University of Southern California. He worked as a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney from 1973 to 1979, resigning amid frustration with the court system.
In 1980, Bruce ran a largely self-financed campaign for the California State Assembly, running in the Democratic Primary for the 38th Assembly district, which included Pacific Palisades and Malibu. Running with the campaign slogan "Specifics, Not Safe Generalities," Bruce ran what a local newspaper described as "something of an anomaly -- a law and order primary campaign by a Democrat." Bruce lost by five percentage points in a high-turnout primary; his opponent, Steven Afriat, narrowly lost the general election to Republican Marian la Follette.
During the late 1970s, Bruce acquired a number of rental properties in the Los Angeles area, which he managed full-time after leaving the district attorney's office. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Bruce was embroiled in several protracted tax disputes with the Internal Revenue Service. In 1986, Bruce acquired several properties in Colorado Springs and moved to Colorado permanently. Shortly before moving to Colorado, Bruce changed his political party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.
In addition to his Colorado Springs properties, Bruce acquired rental properties in Denver and Pueblo, Colorado. He has been cited repeatedly by law and code enforcement officials regarding the upkeep of his properties, although most of the dozens of citations brought against him have been overturned. In connection with charge of operating an unsafe building, Bruce spent eight days in jail in 1995 on a contempt of court citation. In response to the numerous complaints filed against him, Bruce has questioned the constitutionality of city code provisions, and accused city officials of selective prosecution and carrying out a "vendetta" against him personally. In 2003, Bruce announced that he intended to sell his rental properties in order to devote more time to politicial activism.
Taxpayer's Bill of Rights
Although similar tax-limitation measures had been rejected by voters over the previous decades, in 1988, Bruce authored and led the campaign that was eventually successful in enacting TABOR, a "Taxpayer Bill of Rights," in Colorado. Among other provisions, TABOR mandated voter approval of any tax increases and constrained state government government spending to grow at a rate no greater than the rates of population growth and inflation. Although TABOR did not pass in 1988, garnering only 42 percent of the vote in a statewide reference, Bruce revised the measure and it was placed on the ballot again in 1990, when it received 49 percent support. A third and final attempt in 1992 was successful, and TABOR was passed with 54 percent of the vote and became part of Colorado's constitution. During these campaigns, Bruce was the primary spokesperson for TABOR, tangling vocally with TABOR opponent and Colorado governor Roy Romer. Bruce also wrote and successfully passed a similar local measure in Colorado Springs in 1991. The passage of TABOR was Bruce's most prominent political accomplishment; years later, Bruce's personalized license plate read "MRTABOR".
Since the passage of TABOR in 1992, hundreds of local jurisdictions in Colorado have sought voter approval to temporarily or permanently exceed the spending limitations of TABOR, measures which became known as "de-Brucing," in reference to TABOR's author. By 2007, over half of Colorado's school district and counties had "de-Bruced," as had many municipalities.
In 2005, after several years of tight budgets brought about by recession, the spending limitations of TABOR, and other budgetary obligations, the Colorado General Assembly referred Referendum C, a statewide "de-Brucing" measure, to Colorado voters. Bruce was a vocal opponent of Referendum C, facing off against supporters including Gov. Bill Owens, who had supported the original passage of TABOR. Referendum C, which was ultimately passed by voters, authorized a five year "time-out" from some of TABOR's spending restrictions. Although Bruce threatened a lawsuit against the state of Colorado if the referendum passed, the measure was ultimately enacted into law, raising state revenue by several billion dollars.
Seeking elected office
State Senate campaigns
Bruce's first attempt to seek elected office in Colorado came in 1996, when Bruce challenged incumbent Republican state senator Ray Powers in the Republican Party primary, losing to May, who went on to become the Colorado State Senate President.
Bruce ran unsuccessfully again for the Colorado State Senate in 2000, losing a hotly contested Republican party primary to Ron May in the solidly Republican district. Running with the slogan "Ron May, but Bruce will," Bruce faced institutional opposition from statewide Republican leaders, including Governor Bill Owens, who had once supported Bruce's TABOR initiatives. May ultimately won by only 112 votes.
El Paso County Commissioner
Bruce was elected to the El Paso County, Colorado county commission in 2004, defeating Colorado Springs councilwoman Maraget Radford in the Republican primary, then, in the general election, defeated Democrat Stanley Hildahl and two Republicans who ran as write-in candidates with the backing of some party leaders. Bruce won the general election with 58 percent of the vote.
2007 House appointment
In October 2007, Bruce announced his plans to seek a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives. After the appointment of Rep. Bill Cadman to fill a Senate seat being vacated by Ron May, Bruce sought to be appointed to Cadman's seat representing House District 15. Bruce faced two other Republican challengers for the appointment during a short but contentious battle for the vacancy committee nomination, during which he questioned the professional credentials of one of his opponents, and opponents charged that he was too divisive a figure to successfully represent the district. Ultimately, Bruce received two-thirds of the votes from the 66 members of the vacancy committee, beating out former school board candidate and engineer Reginald Perry and businessman Steve Hasbrouck.
Swearing-in controversy
Bruce postponed being sworn in until January 14, 2008 — several days after the start of the legislative session — in order to be eligible to serve a full four terms beyond the partial term under Colorado's term limits rules. The move was criticized by former Republican Senator Ron May and Democratic House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, who, in response to Bruce's actions, plans to introduce legislation requiring that newly-appointed legislators be sworn in within a specific period of time.
Bruce clashed with legislative leaders over the time of his swearing-in, demanding to be sworn in at 10 a.m. in front of the full house. Speaker Romanoff, and Republican leader Mike May both requested that Bruce take the oath at a different time, as is customary for vacancy appointments, in order not to interfere with House business. Bruce was present at the 10 a.m. start of legislative business on January 14, but was not recognized by Speaker Romanoff during the morning session. After House Republicans voted 22-1 to call for a representative to be named for District 15 if Bruce did not take the oath of office by the end of the day, Bruce was sworn in by Romanoff at 1:30 p.m.
Already fined for an unexcused absence from the commission meeting on Monday morning, Bruce submitted his resignation as an El Paso County Commissioner after being sworn in as a state representative, effective January 15. After his resignation, Bruce sent a letter to the vacancy committee members who would choose his replacement criticizing Amy Lathen, the leading candidate for his commission seat, as unqualified and inconsistent on tax issues, calling her a Republican in Name Only; the letter was denounced by El Paso County Republican Party officials. Lathen, who planned for months to run a primary campaign for the commission seat against Bruce, was elected by the vacancy committee with a majority of votes on the first ballot.
Censure
On the morning before he was sworn in, Bruce was present on the house floor during the session's morning prayer. Javier Manzano, a Rocky Mountain News photographer took Bruce's picture during the prayer; Bruce kicked him in the knee, telling Manzano, "Do not do that again." Bruce later accused the photographer of "violating the order and decorum" of the house, refusing to apologize. Republican Minority Leader Mike May issued a formal apology to the photographer, and state Republican chairman Dick Wadhams "strongly denounce[d]" Bruce's actions.
Speaker Romanoff and Leader May convened a bipartisan six-member panel to investigate and made recommendations concerning the incident; on Friday, January 18, the panel recommended 6-0 that Bruce be censured by the House for his actions, and 5-1 that a formal apology be requested from Bruce.
Romanoff elected to pursue the censure recommendation, and, on January 24, the full House of Representatives voted 62-1 to censure Bruce. He became the first representative in the recorded history of the state house to be formally censured.
Legislative agenda
In the 2008 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Bruce sits on the House Finance Committee and the House State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee. At the start of the 2008 General Assembly session, before being sworn in, Bruce announced his opposition to a large portion of the House Republican caucus legislative agenda, including a sales tax holiday for school supplies, a pine beetle mitigation fund, new specialty license plates, and targeted tax credits, noting in a letter to Republican whip Cory Gardner: "I thought the GOP was the party of less government and more freedom, of protecting individualism, not streamlining socialism."
Among the bills introduced by Bruce is a measure to require the Colorado Department of Education to distribute copies of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution to high school seniors, to mandate classroom instruction on the documents, and to offer a brief constitutional law course to members of the Colorado General Assembly.
2008 election
Bruce has also announced his intention to stand in the 2008 general election for the House District 15 seat, and is expected to face a challenge both for the Republican nomination (from attorney Mark Waller) and in the general election (from Democrat Allison Hunter)
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