DENVER - In his first full day as a lawmaker, Rep. Douglas Bruce already was facing punishment ranging from a reprimand to possible expulsion for kicking a newspaper photographer.

Three Democrats and three Republicans will serve on a special committee that will make a recommendation by Jan. 25 to the full House, which will decide whether there will be any punishment for Bruce. Expulsion would require a two-thirds vote of the House.

House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, formed the committee after Bruce, R-Colorado Springs, kicked Rocky Mountain News photographer Javier Manzano as Manzano snapped pictures of Bruce while he stood in the House during the morning prayer Monday.

Bruce, an appointee filling a vacancy, was sworn in and became a member of the House later that day.

Romanoff said after reviewing a tape of the encounter and after conversations with Bruce and House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, he determined that the issue warranted a closer look.

“If I thought this was no big deal, we wouldn’t be here today,” Romanoff said at a news conference.

Romanoff and May said they could not recall another such committee being formed.

Bruce was not technically a member of the House when the incident happened, but Romanoff said the special committee will have the same recommendation powers as ethics committees that investigate legislators.

The committee was formed under rules that give the speaker of the House power to preserve order.

Bruce said House leaders are “making a mountain out of a molecule,” and he maintained the photographer was the one whose actions were wrong. He said he told Manzano to stop taking pictures during the prayer. House rules allow Manzano to do so, but Bruce said his refusing to stop was “outrageous conduct.”

“The irony of this whole thing is I am being accused of violating decorum, and I was trying to promote and protect the decorum of the House,” Bruce said.

Reps. Paul Weissmann, D-Louisville, and Steve King, R-Grand Junction, will be cochairmen of the special committee; Bruce spent part of Tuesday talking about the incident with Weissmann.

He re-enacted the kicking motion to several legislators and staffers and to Colorado Education Association lobbyists he met outside the House chamber.

“It’s just a nudge,” Bruce said.

Several of Bruce’s fellow El Paso County Republicans said the investigation is justified and standard procedure after a complaint is filed against a member.

The kick may have shocked others, but Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, said Tuesday he’s come to expect that sort of behavior from Bruce.

“As a member of the El Paso County delegation, as a former chairman of the El Paso County Republican Party, I’m not surprised by any of it,” Gardner said. “I think it’s par for the course. If it wasn’t this, it would be something else.”

Rep. Mike Merrifield, D-Colorado Springs, recommended that Bruce apologize and “eat a little humble pie.”

“I know for him it’s never on his menu, but it’s time that he learned to take a small portion on occasion,” Merrifield said.

In Bruce’s northeastern Colorado Springs district, businessman Steve Hasbrouck called it “humiliating” to see such behavior from his representative.

Hasbrouck, who ran unsuccessfully for the seat when it opened up late last year, said the events have spurred him to seriously consider opposing Bruce again this year. Attorney Mark Waller has said he, too, will enter the race.

“What he was supposed to do was go to Denver, be sworn in . . . do his job and represent us,” Hasbrouck said. “Kicking a cameraman, whether he kicked him on purpose or not, does not represent my interest.”