A Denver legislator wants to make it easier to haul possible campaign-finance-law violators into state court, an idea spurred by the case of anti-tax crusader Douglas Bruce, who for months successfully evaded attempts to force him to testify about the funding behind three initiatives.
“It’s really more of the process of how to deal with problems with subpoenas in administrative law courts,” said Rep. Beth McCann, D-Denver, a former chief deputy district attorney. “It’s from the charade that went on last year with Doug Bruce avoiding service and making it very difficult for the case that was brought to determine who was financing those three initiatives.”
Opponents of Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101 wanted to know who had financed efforts to collect the signatures to put the measures on the ballot. The three measures, which voters trounced, would have cut billions in state and local taxes and dramatically limited governments’ ability to borrow money.
Opponents suspected Bruce’s involvement and tried to force him to testify about the funding, starting the case before Administrative Law Judge Robert Spencer. The judge eventually ruled that evidence showed Bruce was involved in the initiatives despite his public statements distancing himself from them.
Even so, Bruce kept evading efforts by opponents to have him sit for a deposition, despite 30 attempts in one month to serve him with court papers compelling his testimony. The case moved to Denver District Court, where Bruce faced a contempt of court citation for a time before a judge dismissed it.
Bruce, who by that time had hired defense attorney David Lane, ultimately sat for a deposition after he lost a court challenge in which he argued his First Amendment rights would be violated.
Opponents of the three initiatives filed a campaign-finance complaint after the deposition, alleging Bruce illegally used a charity he operates to fund the signature drives for the measures and did not file campaign-finance reports. The case is pending in Denver District Court.
“It was very frustrating,” McCann said. “It was really not the way we like to see cases get resolved. It seemed like Doug Bruce was just thumbing his nose at the court system.”
She said her bill might attempt to have cases like Bruce’s move to district court sooner without draining the time of administrative law courts or the attorney general’s office, which represented the secretary of state’s office in the case.
Bruce, a Republican former lawmaker from Colorado Springs, did not respond to a request for comment.
Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626 or thoover@denverpost.com
