Bruce asks state for $750 too much

DENVER - Few people will forget Rep. Douglas Bruce’s well-publicized standoff with House leaders when he refused to be sworn in for the beginning of the legislative session.

It appears to have slipped his memory, however. Bruce, a midterm appointee who delayed taking office for five days, submitted a request to the Legislative Council for per-diem reimbursement for January showing that he had been in his seat for the entire session.

Wednesday, the Colorado Springs Republican agreed to return the check he received for last month in exchange for a check worth $750 less, representing the five days of $150-aday pay that he did not earn.

He said his request for more money was a clerical error, not an attempt at stealing money from the state.

“I just don’t want anybody to come up with some goofy idea that I’m defrauding the system,” Bruce said, noting that he has not cashed the original check for $3,450. “No check has ever passed through my bank account.”

Bruce, appointed in December to fill the vacant House District 15 seat, refused to take his oath of office Jan. 9 when the session began. By taking his seat five days later, he said, he would be in office less than half the unfinished term he was filling and would be eligible to run for election four times instead of three under the state’s term limits.

Fellow Republicans criticized him and nearly asked for a vacancy committee to choose someone else before Bruce was sworn in.

Legislators from outside the Denver metro area receive $150 a day to cover the cost of their room, board and other expenses.

When Bruce was asked to fill out a form to receive January’s per diem, he said, he asked a staffer how many days he should bill for and was told 23 — the number of days all other legislators worked, rather than the 18 he had been in office.

Legislative Council staffers approached him Wednesday about his request, and Bruce said he told them immediately that he would get the check back to them.

“I was told to put in 23 days. What was I supposed to do?” Bruce said. “I didn’t know (that number of days) was the 9th to the 31st. I didn’t know it wasn’t the 14th to the 31st. . . . I don’t walk around with a calendar, so how do I know what is 23 days?”

He pointed out also that he did not file for mileage reimbursement despite being able to, because he does not believe legislators should be paid to drive to work. And he added that his salary and per diem are going to a charity. The charity is Active Citizens Together, a group he founded 6½ years ago to educate people about their rights as property owners and taxpayers.

In his first month in office, Bruce became the first representative to be censured by the House for kicking a photographer and lost a committee seat for refusing to vote on a resolution honoring veterans.

CONTACT THE WRITER: (303) 837-0613 or ed.sealover@gazette.com