Douglas Bruce, father of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, reported to jail Friday after being sentenced earlier this week for tax evasion in a spectacle befitting his controversial history in Colorado. Throughout the proceedings he was rude, defiant and had no regard for the rule of law.
After being sentenced to 180 days in jail and six years of probation, Bruce said they could take his body, but they couldn’t have his soul. He called himself a political prisoner. He was arrogant and self-righteous throughout.
Bruce has displayed not an ounce of contrition and believes he is innocent. “I know I didn’t do anything wrong,” Bruce said Friday. “If they want to make me sit in a jail cell because they think it serves some type of redeeming purpose, OK.”
This is the man we have come to know over the years as he has cut a swath through Colorado tax policies and politics. It would seem this won’t be the last we hear of the matter. The Internal Revenue Service wasted no time in requesting files containing evidence gathered against Bruce. Stay tuned.
Election-year pandering. If you’re of the opinion that Washington must get serious about balancing its checkbook, then this was a disappointing week. First, President Obama submitted a budget that ignores any serious budget-cutting. And on Friday, Democrats and Republicans joined forces to pass a payroll tax extension that will add nearly $100 billion to the nation’s debt (to their credit, Republican Reps. Cory Gardner and Doug Lamborn voted against the extension). We’re not opposed to payroll tax extension plan — which also addressed unemployment benefits and medicare reimbursement rates — but we think lawmakers should have paid for the bill. But it’s Washington in an election year, which means it’s easier to write checks that you can’t cash.
Send Nichol a message — or a clue. The nerve. Embroiled in a criminal investigation into her dealings with a paving company as part of fraud that cost taxpayers more than $8 million, Adams County Commissioner Alice Nichol said this week that she would seek re-election. “I can’t live with the perception that I’m getting out because of pressure of some kind,” the Democrat told The Post’s Monte Whaley. The best election for Nichol would have been a recall election. Since it’s too late for that, we hope Adams County voters send her a strong message through the ballot box, and that special prosecutor Scott Storey sends a strong message through the courts.
Short Takes is compiled by Denver Post editorial writers and expresses the view of the newspaper’s editorial board.
