DENVER—Colorado officials may finally be getting closer to knowing whether a tax-bashing activist from Colorado Springs played a role in helping three tax-cutting measures onto state ballots this fall.
A contempt-of-court hearing opened Thursday against Douglas Bruce, a former state lawmaker who led the campaign for Colorado’s Taxpayers Bill of Rights almost 20 years ago.
The government says Bruce has been illegally avoiding attempts to have him explain his connection to people who petitioned this year’s measures onto ballots. A lawsuit that is pending on appeal seeks to have those ballot measures thrown out.
The contempt hearing began Thursday after two delays. Government lawyers called three witnesses—a sheriff’s deputy and two people who deliver court documents for a living—to describe their attempts to serve Bruce subpoenas going back to February.
Bruce’s lawyer, David Lane, did not dispute that Bruce was served legal documents in February and June. But Lane says Bruce was never personally served a subpoena to appear at an April 5 proceeding, which led to the contempt charge.
Bruce has said he was out of town, not avoiding subpoenas.
Bruce is Colorado’s best-known tax-basher, and a coalition seeking to invalidate this year’s tax measures says Bruce helped promote the new measures to limit government borrowing, without being properly listed as a backer.
The opponents want to see e-mails between Bruce and the ballot measures’ supporters, and they’ve also subpoenaed rental records, suggesting Bruce may be have provided housing for people who worked to petition the measures onto ballots.
The contempt hearing continues two more days. There’s no immediate word when Denver District Judge Brian Whitney may rule. Whitney has said it is unlikely Bruce would face punitive fines or jail time, even if he’s found guilty of contempt.
