Panel: Censure Bruce for kick

By Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News (Contact), Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Originally published 11:54 a.m., January 18, 2008
Updated 02:35 p.m., January 18, 2008

Photo by George Kochaniec Jr., The Rocky

Rep. Douglas Bruce testifies before a special House committee at the state Capitol today. The panel is reviewing the conduct of Bruce, who kicked Rocky photographer Javier Manzano earlier this week.

Photo by George Kochaniec Jr.

Members of the special House committee listen to Rep. Douglas Bruce testify at the state Capitol today. The is reviewing the conduct of Rep. Douglas Bruce, who kicked Rocky photographer Javier Manzano on Monday.

Photo by George Kochaniec Jr.

Rocky Mountain News photographer Javier Manzano sits in front of Rep. Douglas Bruce while waiting to testify before a special House committee at the state Capitol today. The special committee was called to review the conduct of Rep. Douglas Bruce, who kicked Manzano earlier this week.

Javier Manzano / The Rocky

State rookie lawmaker Douglas Bruce bows his head during a prayer in the House on Jan. 14. Moments later, Bruce kicked a Rocky photographer.

A panel of Colorado legislators recommended today that state Rep. Douglas Bruce be censured and that he apologize to his colleagues for kicking a newspaper photographer.

The recommendation goes to House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, who will make the final decision. Bruce kicked Rocky Mountain News photographer Javier Manzano on Monday during a prayer on the floor of the House. Below is the blow by blow of proceedings today.

2:29 p.m.

More than a dozen reporters and photographers followed Bruce from the hearing, asking for his reaction to the committee's recommendation of censure.

He was stone-faced and silent for the first time all week.

As Bruce entered an elevator, accompanied by an aide, he asked the journalists: "Am I allowed to go up on my own?"

When the media members nodded, he said thank you and rode up the elevator.

2:21 p.m.

Solano withdrew the motion for a fine against Bruce after Weissmann said he wanted to have further punishments handy in case Bruce offended again.

He compared it to punishing his children, saying a parent didn’t want to use the toughest punishment for the first mistake or “you have nothing left in your bag.”

The panel agreed to recommend to the full House censure, requiring a formal apology. The recommendation must be received by Jan. 25.

Afterward, Weissmann said censure is a powerful punishment for a lawmaker

“I think it costs him his reputation and it costs him his credibility,” the co-chair said, noting reputation is a crucial treasure for lawmakers.

“This wouldn’t have been newsworthy if Doug Bruce had just said: ‘I’m sorry.’ Weissmann said. “It would have been over.”

2:14 p.m.

Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, also pushed for a formal apology to the House as part of the censure, citing Bruce’s violation of the body’s decorum. She left it Bruce to grapple with whether to apologize to Manzano.

“Blaming the photographer for his conduct is not appropriate. We don’t accept that,” Levy said.

On a 5-1 vote, the panel agreed that requiring Bruce to make a formal apology to the House be part of the censure. Co-Chairman Rep. Paul Weissmann was the lone no vote, saying he believed it would be a hollow gesture if Bruce were forced to apologize.

Solano proposed having House Speaker Andrew Romanoff issue a fine.

McNulty said Manzano could propose the charity that would receive the fine.

Both Weissmann and Rose said they were uncomfortable with a fine.

2:11 p.m.

The panel has made initial recommendation that the full House issue a censure, more serious than a reprimand.

Rose issued one of the most blistering condemnations of the afternoon.

“He has demeaned the people of Colorado,” Rose said of Bruce, adding that he had also demeaned his Colorado Springs constituents and the House’s century-old standards of conduct.

Rep. Judy Solano, D-Brighton, echoed colleagues in saying he was disturbed that Bruce hadn’t taken responsibility for his actions and apologized.

She asked that any censure or reprimand include requiring Bruce to make a formal apology.

“It reminds me of my teaching,” Peniston said, referring to when she put rules on her classroom walls stating: “No biting, no fighting, no poking, no kicking.”

“We all lived by the rules. And if (students) didn’t, there were consequences.

She suggested Bruce should be required to pay a fine to a children’s organization.

1:58 p.m.

Lawmakers are now weighing whether to censure or issue a reprimand against Bruce or kick him out of the legislature. Bruce was not a sworn-in House member at the time of the incident.

Fellow Republicans harshly chastised their new colleague for arrogantly refusing to accept responsibility and continuing to accuse the man he kicked of being the aggressor.

“Rep. Bruce, hubris is a dangerous master in this House,” King said. “By your choice, you are a public figure.”

Unlike the pope or the president, Bruce decided “that you can decree that no one will photograph you.,” King said.

During the House prayer, King continued, “Rather than showing your spirituality, you showed violence.”

King noted that if his 13-year-old son had kicked someone at school, he would have received a $50 ticket and a three-day suspension.

“I will not return to Grand Junction and tell him that I hold him to a higher standard than I do a Colorado state representative,” King concluded.

“It is not OK to physically assault another person in the Colorado House of Representatives,” said Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch. He added that it might only be justified if one were warding off a physical assault.

1:41 p.m.

Co-Chair Weissmann said he was frustrated that lawmakers were investing their time in investigating a colleague. He noted that the lone clash between lawmakers that he could recall was swiftly settled with apologies and handshakes.

“That’s the common course down here, almost over-civility in dealing with each other” and the public, Weissmann said.

A grave-sounding Rose said: “I myself am dismayed because you have put us in a position of not only judging decorum, but also judging acceptable behavior.”

Rose noted that Bruce said he kicked the photographer “simply because you were annoyed.”

Rose asked if he was annoyed during debate with Bruce, “would you consider it acceptable behavior for me to kick you?”

“I didn’t consider it a kick,” Bruce replied.

1:25 p.m.

Rep. Ray Rose, R-Montrose, noted that Bruce said he was “annoyed” – not angry – during the incident.

“We have annoyance every day,” Rose said. “Would you respond the same way to other annoyances?”

“I can predict with confidence that this is never going to happen again,” Bruce replied. “It is unfortunate that it happened.”

Bruce, a former prosecutor, said: “I consider myself zealous in my commitment to enforcement of the law.”

But he has refused to apologize to the man he kicked, insisting that it’s Manzano who should apologize for disrupting House decorum during the prayer.

In the closest he’s come to apology, Bruce suggested the panel allow him and Manzano to issue a joint statement that “We mutually regret that the incident occurred.”

1:15 p.m.

Co-Chair Rep. Steve King, a Mesa County sheriff’s investigator, asked one of the most pointed and simple questions of today's hearing.

“Rep. Bruce, would keeping your hands and feet to yourself be a possible option in this situation?’

Bruce said it wasn’t an option. He couldn’t retreat because he was up against the wall of the chamber and it would have created disruption during the prayer as the media “pack” pursued him.

“He was not leaving me alone. That is the problem,” Bruce said.

“Let me try to get his straight, Rep. Bruce. You’re the victim?”

Bruce replied that he didn’t think either he or Manzano were victims.

“I’m the object of their rude, inconsiderate behavior that I requested they not inflict on me during the prayer,” Bruce said.

"Rep. Bruce, are you a public official by choice?” King asked

“I was an elected county commissioner at the time. I guess that makes me a public official,” he replied.

1:05 p.m.

Bruce began his testimony by asking for a glass of water.

The lawmaker then recounted that he had been accommodating and jovial before the incident as “15 or 20 paparazzi had been hounding me for an hour and half.”

Bruce said he asked Manzano not to photograph during the prayer, both with words and by wagging his finger.

Bruce noted that the TV video shows Osler encouraging Manzano to continue photographing after the Rocky photographer had done the “right thing” and paused at his request.

The lawmaker said he believed still and TV cameramen were working together to pester him and then capture his reaction.

“The point is they were in a coordinated effort to be provocative.”

Bruce denied that it was a “hard kick at all.”

“This was not a field goal kick. This was putting the bottom side of my shoe against his exposed knee,” said Bruce, adding that simply tried to “give him a nudge and say don’t do it” or “Back off, don’t do that.”

Bruce said he found it ironic that he was the target of the investigation, because “I was trying to preserve the order and decorum in the House.”

“I am now the one being accused, not the person who caused the incident."

12:50 p.m.

Denver Post photographer Mark Osler, who formerly worked at the Rocky, recounted how Bruce gestured to Manzano, indicating he shouldn’t photograph him. As a colleague of Manzano, Osler said he told him Bruce had no right to stop him from taking photographers in the public House chamber.

“I turned to him and said he can’t tell you not to take a picture,” Osler recalled telling Manzano. “Go ahead and do your job.”

After the kicking incident, Osler said he was going to photograph Bruce taking the pledge of allegiance. But Sgt.-at-Arms John Wallin reached over and covered Osler’s camera lens with his hand.

Afterward, Osler said Wallin apologized for blocking his photograph.

Osler said he believed Wallin wasn’t trying to censor the press, but prevent an escalation and “maintain order.”

Wallin testified next, saying he saw Bruce gesture with his finger at Manzano, indicating “No. No. Don’t do this.” Bruce also spoke, but Wallin didn’t hear his words.

Wallin said Manzano “Did not move or wince or make any noise.”

The Sgt-at-Arms said he later told his supervisor that Bruce “kicked the photographer.”

Wallin said he blocked Osler’s camera, not because he was breaking any rules, but “merely to stop the thing from getting any more out of hand.’’

12:29 p.m.

The first witness, Rocky photographer Javier Manzano, testified that he was surprised when Bruce kicked him, because he thought was taking a positive image of a lawmaker praying with Bible in hand.

"I did not expect him to kick me with the bible in hand but that’s beside the point,” Manzano said.

He added that he and a Denver Post photographer paused briefly when Bruce wagged his finger indicating that he didn’t want photos during the prayer.

But given that TV cameras were continuing to roll, both photographers continued to shoot.

As an elected official Bruce had no right to censor the press, he said.

“You can’t censor what the press does,” Manzano said. It’s up to his editors to decide which photos are published, he said.

Others witnesses will include Post photographer Mark Osler, Bruce and a sergeant-at-arms.

12:23 p.m.

The hearing began with the six-member bipartisan panel viewing TV video of the incident as Bruce, standing for the prayer, made a gesture and wagged his finger at the two photographers sitting at his feet.

He then made a swift, sharp motion with his leg. The TV camera’s tight close-up on Bruce didn’t capture Bruce’s foot striking Manzano, who witnesses said lost his balance from the impact. It also knocked over one of his cameras.

11:54 a.m.

At noon in House Committee Room 112: A special bipartisan House panel launches hearings into Rep. Douglas Bruce’s kicking of a Rocky photographer on the House floor last Monday.

Witnesses include Bruce, Rocky Mountain News photographer Javier Manzano and House Sergeant-at-Arms John Wallin.

Watch for live updates here.

• January 18, 2008

  1:35 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Lowtaxequalsfreedom writes:

  Is this a First Amendment issue? Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Press? How can both of these folks have their rights honored at the same time? Maybe this is not a First Amendment issue at all?

• January 18, 2008

  2:04 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  GrayOwl writes:

  It is a First Amendment issue. But it also is an issue of stupidity, arrogance and immaturity -- and Mr. Bruce qualifies on all three counts. By the way, did anyone ask him to which God he was praying when he kicked another human being? Exactly what religion is that? The Religion of Bruce?

• January 18, 2008

  2:05 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Diff writes:

  Kick his sorry BUTT out of the legislature, and out of Colorado for that mater!
  Bruce, your an imbarrassment to the whole State!

• January 18, 2008

  3:02 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  noneya writes:

  Colorado republicans have been on the "ropes" the last couple of years and now they have Douglas Bruce as their latest poster boy to lay claim to. He's a jerk and always has been a jerk, I'm glad he's not my jerk!

• January 18, 2008

  3:04 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  jibbons writes:

  This is an issue of a public figure stupidly attempting to restrict the right of the press to take any picture they choose in a public setting. It is also an issue of an ignorant and immature man thinking that a photographer engaging in an act that has been engaged in by countless other photographers in the same room, and for the same purposes, was somehow an effort to attack Bruce, the House, or even God. GrayOwl is right about what the issue is, but this is what the issue will be everytime you read the name Bruce.

  I live in Colorado Springs, and have read countless articles stating that Mr. Bruce has been the monkey wrench in our political machinery down here. Now he has somehow elevated himself to monkey wrench for the state. At this rate the jacka** will be the national monkey wrench in 2012.

  Vote Republican, or vote Democrat, but please stop voting stupid, arrogant, and immature. We have already seen what that can do on a national scale, now we will have to watch the local version.

• January 18, 2008

  4:06 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Lowtaxequalsfreedom writes:

  I am not sure what religion Bruce practices but it is clear that one of the tenets is not to be photographed while praying.

• January 18, 2008

  4:12 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Lowtaxequalsfreedom writes:

  Having lived in Colorado for nearly 35 years Bruce does not embarrass me. Yes he did cross the line on this one particular incident but nearly everything else he has done is good. We all make mistakes and Bruce just made his.
  Bruce quit screwing around and go remind these big government nannies what Liberty is all about!

• January 18, 2008

  5:24 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  ezekiel777 writes:

  The censure is just fine... keep this guy around to be a continual embarrassment to his cause. Let him continue to act and look like the total pig that he is... Let the Republicans become as extinct as the dodo, irrelevant and ineffective.... Can you say Whig?

  I will never vote for a conservative again.

• January 18, 2008

  5:57 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  samsmargolis writes:

  Let's see, Rep. Claire Levy has a land thief for a campaign treasurer but offers, “Blaming the photographer for his conduct is not appropriate. We don’t accept that,” Levy said.

  Hey, Claire - that's kind of like blaming the property owners for not building a house on their property to keep your thieving friends from stealing it, huh? We don't accept that, either. Way to make a pompous ass out of yourself (again) by picking and choosing who you decide to impose your version of morality upon.

  By the way, Douglas Bruce and the friends of Levy are all cut from the same cloth and deserve the censorship they're receiving.

• January 18, 2008

  6:27 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Smarter_than_you writes:

  What a pathetic joke of a "representative." Don't think this is the last we'll hear from this idiot.

• January 18, 2008

  6:34 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  3rdGenerationNative writes:

  Abusers & bullies will escalate as long as society spares punishment in order 'not to exhaust their options for future incidents". This is an admission: they KNOW they are in for more abuse (and increasing violence) from this cretin.

  The teacher-turned state Rep. compares Lame Doug to a 3rd Grader? No, the standard is much higher for adults in the schools, it's called Zero Tolerance. How many teachers are escorted out of their careers in handcuffs - just for gentle touching, not to mention a 'nudge or a tap'?

  Those who worship Lame Doug need to remember that violence recorded by the media has undone all the good works and public adulation of figures like Zinedine Zidane, Gen. George Patton, Woody Hayes, Bobby Knight, Bill Romanowski, Zsa Zsa Gabor, etc.

• January 18, 2008

  8:19 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Spencer writes:

  This has to be some sort of record. Censured before he is even sworn in.

• January 18, 2008

  8:47 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  EastVail writes:

  impeach Bruce!

• January 18, 2008

  10:42 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Lowtaxequalsfreedom writes:

  Do some homework on Censure and Impeachment. You will learn just how rare these actions are. These actions are usually reserved for politicians who have been convicted in the court of law.

• March 2, 2008

  12:54 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  EdwardGRobinson writes:

  Evan Meacham of Arizona was impeached first and canned, THEN convicted in criminal court. I did my homework. Douglas Bruce: whether rare or in this case, unprecedented: open that family Bible and read "Mine, Mine, Tekel Upharsin". The handwriting's on the wall.