Colorado House Career of Douglas Bruce - 2008 Election

2008 Election

Bruce announced in November 2007 that he would stand in the 2008 general election for the House District 15 seat. He faces a challenge for the Republican nomination from attorney and Iraq War veteran Mark Waller. Following the precedent of his county commission campaign four years earlier, Bruce funded his own campaign, refusing to accept private campaign donations; instead, Bruce donated over $30,000 of his own money to his campaign. He did, however, unsuccessfully solicit donations for his charity, Active Citizens Together, from other lawmakers. Reflecting Bruce's status as a "pariah" among some Colorado Springs Republicans, Waller received endorsements or contributions during his campaign from at least five sitting state representatives, including Bob Gardner, Larry Liston, and Marsha Looper, as well as former Sen. Ron May and Colorado Attorney General John Suthers.

Waller outpolled Bruce by receiving 57% of the vote at the Republican assembly in March, claiming the top line on the August Republican primary ballot; he was supported by some delegates who had voted for Bruce's legislative appointment months earlier. During his campaign, Waller did not draw a contrast on political positions with Bruce, but argued that Bruce's temperament caused him to be an ineffective legislator.

Bruce faced criticism from House Democratic and Republican leaders in April for distributing campaign fliers critical of Waller to Republican representatives on the House floor. Although not a violation of the law or House rules, legislative leaders denounced the action as a breach of decorum and tradition. Waller also called for Bruce's resignation in April 2008, after Bruce's controversial comments about Mexican guest workers. Bruce, in response, characterised Waller as a "conformer" rather than a "reformer," and stated that his controversial actions were designed to draw attention to inappropriate legislative actions.

Shortly before the August primary, Bruce was again criticized by Waller for mailing flyers promoting his charity, Active Citizens Together, soliciting volunteers and donations for the charity and stating: "to reform government, ACT with Douglas Bruce." Although Waller declared that the flyers were "an obvious attempt at campaigning," he did not file a complaint with the Colorado Secretary of State's office, as he believed no laws were actually broken; the flyers did not mention any of Bruce's elected positions. Bruce was also criticized for listing endorsements on his website from political officials who had endorsed his campaign for county commissioner, but not specifically endorsed his legislative campaign. After attention was called to the discrepancy, Bruce had the erroneous endorsements removed, citing an "overzealous webmaster."

In turn, Bruce filed several campaign finance complaints against Waller, all but one of which—an accusation that Waller improperly accepted a corporate donation—were dismissed. The hearing on Bruce's complaint was postponed until after the primary, over Bruce's objection, but resulted in Waller being cited and fined for failing to disclose a campaign contribution. Bruce also criticized Waller for his failure to vote in several recent elections, including the 2004 general election.

Bruce was narrowly defeated for the Republican nomination in the August 12 party primary, taking only 48 percent of the vote to Waller's 52 percent.

Democrat Allison Hunter withdrew from the race in December 2007, arguing that Bruce's appointment by a vacancy committee gave him "too great an advantage" in general election; Waller will face Democrat Michelle Maksimowicz in November 2008.