January 16, 2008 12:28 AM UTC

Doug 'the Thug' Bruce

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• by: Roger D

The kicking incident was not Bruce’s first ‘scrap’ at the Capitol.  In February of 2000, he threatened Sen. Gigi Dennis (R) Pueblo West and had to be removed from the Capitol by state troopers.

I was there.  Bruce leaned over to her and said something in her ear, she jumped up and and started yelling.  Sen. Ken Arnold (R) Wesminster became alarmed and asked what had happened.  The Sergeant-at-arms bolted into action.  The Sergeant and a State Trooper dragged Bruce down the hall and out of the building.

Bruce was angry because a bill Dennis was carrying (which had just died in committee) would have imposed more stringint requirements necessary for an initiative to qualify for the ballot.  Those requirements would have levied a $200 filing fee for each initiative, along with the submission of the signatures of 50 registered electors supporting the initiative.  Bruce was/is notorious for filing dozens of initiatives in any given year.  Each of which must be dealt with by Legislative Council and the title setting board long before it ever reaches the point of actually gathering signatures to place on the ballot.

Bruce did not want to be saddled with the additional fees or the necessity of finding 50 electors to support his original submission.

As I noted the bill died in committee (does someone want to revisit some of its provisions?) but that was not enough for Bruce.

He thinks he can bully people and often gets away with it.