Colorado Springs – El Paso County Commissioner Douglas Bruce broke the law when he crossed the 100-foot electioneering border during a May 2 election to raise taxes for the Falcon Fire Protection District, the district claims in a complaint filed last week to the Colorado Attorney General.
“None of it is true,” said Bruce, author of Colorado’s Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights. “I distributed fliers by standing at the driveway where the 100 foot signs were posted but I did not cross the line.”
Voters in Falcon, east of Colorado Springs, solidly defeated measures to increase the mill levy and issue $7.5 million in bonds to build fire stations, a training facility and buy fire trucks.
Dino Ross, a lawyer for the district, asked Attorney General John Suthers in a July 20 letter to prosecute Bruce for alleged violations outlined in an affidavit signed by Alex Donnell, the president of the district who served as the designated election official for the election.
In the affidavit, Donnell alleges that Bruce violated Colorado Uniform Election Code when he crossed the 100-foot line and urged voters who were standing in line to vote against the measures. At one point, the affidavit says, Bruce picked up unused ballots and asked a judge: “How many ballots do you have?” He then said: “It’s OK, I’m a county commissioner.”
Bruce said: “That’s nonsense. I categorically deny that I said I have a right to examine people’s ballots because I’m a county commissioner.”
Donnell said the district has documented Bruce’s behavior.
“We have witnesses,” he said.
The affidavit also claims that Bruce alleged that “the fire district was holding a secret polling place” because it moved one of the polling places from its original location. The district did move one of the polling places identified in the district’s TABOR notice to a different location. Donnell said he properly notified the El Paso County Elections Department of the new address. Nine days before the election, he published the new polling place in the local newspaper.
“They had a stealth election where they falsified where one of the two polling places was. Only on election day did I find out where the other polling places was and they only told the people they wanted to vote,” Bruce said.
Donnell said he did not know whether the outcome of the election would have been different if not for Bruce.
“He’s a sore loser,” Bruce said of Donnell. “The man is just making stuff up.”
Erin Emery can be reached at 719-522-1360 or eemery@denverpost.com
