Douglas Bruce wants his ten bucks back. But it doesn’t look like he’s going to get it any time soon.

  Bruce, author of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, was fined $10 for not showing up to a board of El PasoCountycommissioners meeting in January 2008, the day he was sworn into Colorado’s House District 15 seat.

  In levying the fine, the former board of commissioners said Bruce’s absence as a county commissioner was unexcused. Bruce contends it was excused – that his fellow commissioners knew about his new legislative job and that he would be gone.

 Bruce had taken the oath for the State Representative office, unconventionally, though, postponing the action as long as possible to extend the potential length of the appointed term. And he did not step down as an El Paso Countycommissioner until after the swearing in for the state position.

Bruce told the current board of commissioners last week – at a time during regular meetings when anyone from the public can raise any issue with commissioners — he’s noticed that commissioners who have not attended recent meetings have not been fined for their absences.

The money, Bruce said, is a matter of principle, and he was disturbed over the pettiness and unfairness of the issue.

County Attorney Bill Louis volunteered to take Bruce into his office and give him $10 from his petty cash drawer.

Commission Chairwoman Amy Lathen said she wasn’t on the board when the matter came up and wasn’t willing to do that.

So that’s where the issue stands now, nearly four years later.

High-profile Denver lawyer David Lane said today that the contempt-of-court citation brought against Douglas Bruce by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office is “political.”

“The Attorney General’s Office has no love for Douglas Bruce,” he said in a telephone interview. ”I’m always suspicious of them going after somebody like this.”

But it’s important to remember what the case is really about. It began with a  campaign finance complaint filed months ago by Denver lawyer Mark Grueskin against the backers of Amendment 60, Amendment 61 and Proposition 101.

In that complaint, Grueskin alleged the backers should have formed issue committees and disclosed the financial sponsors behind the massive signature-gathering effort that led to their placement on the ballot.

Bruce was subpoenaed to be deposed in connection with the case. Despite efforts to distance himself from those measures, Secretary of State’s Office records show eight professional petition circulators responsible for gathering thousands of signatures lived for a while in a house he owns in central Colorado Springs.

Bruce tried to get the subpoena quashed. Although the administrative judge refused, Bruce still didn’t show up for the deposition.

The administrative law judge didn’t have the authority to hold Bruce in contempt and referred the matter back to the Secretary of State’s Office. That office, in turn, enlisted the aid of the Attorney General’s Office.

Thus, the AG’s Office was acting as the legal representative of the Secretary of State’s Office and didn’t have any stake  in the game other than to make sure one of the basic tools of the judicial system — a subpoena — was honored.

The AG’s Office got a court order from District Judge Brian Whitney compelling Bruce to comply with the subpoena. Process servers subsequently attempted to serve him with the judicial order 30 times.

But Bruce — never one to shun the limelight — was suddenly nowhere to be found.

Fed up with the cat-and-mouse game, the AG asked the judge to find that Bruce had been dutifully served and to issue a contempt-of-court citation.

The judge agreed. And that’s basically where things stood until Aug. 3 when David Lane waded into the fray.

The case was set for a hearing Aug. 18, but Lane asked for a week’s delay because he has some business in Gitmo.

The AG’s Office said it was willing to give Lane an extra week, but nothing more, saying “undue delay” will prejudice the state.

“One possible outcome of the contempt hearing is that the Court will impose remedial sanctions requiring Mr. Bruce to sit for a deposition and to produce documents  in the underlying administrative case,” the AG stated. “Such sanctions will be completely meaningless if they occur too close to (or after) the Nov. 2, 2010 election.”

 ”By all appearances, Mr. Bruce has made every effort to avoid providing the subpoenaed information, and retaining counsel now, over five months after he was first subpoenaed and over three months after the commencement of those proceedings, only further contributes to the delay in resolving this matter.”

To summarize, Bruce is fighting hard to avoid giving this deposition. And the question is, why?

Members of a wealthy Pueblo family have given $10,000  of the roughly $12,000 in campaign contributions received by  CO Tax Reforms, a political-issue committee that is supporting three ballot issues that would reduce taxes and limit government borrowing.

Ali Hasan, a fiscal conservative who  lost a bid this spring to become the Republican nominee for state treasurer, contributed $5,000. His mother, Seeme Hasan, also contributed  $5,000, according to interviews and campaign finance records.

Born in Pueblo in 1980 on the Fourth of July, Hasan is the son of Dr. Malik Hasan, a Pakistan-born neurologist who moved to Pueblo, Colorado, in the early 1970s with $32 in his pocket and subsequently built one of the largest health maintenance organizations in the country.

The Hasans are large contributors to Republican candidates and causes. In 2008, Seeme Hasan was appointed to the finance committee of the McCain-Palin campaign and raised $1 million, according to the Muslims for America website.

The Hasan Family Foundation, according to a Denver Post story, gave Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis $300,000 several years ago to write articles on water and do speaking engagements.

Some of his writings were found to be nearly identical to material written by Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory J. Hobbs, the Post revealed.

“I’m very shocked and upset over the entire matter,” said Ali Hasan. “Most of the foundation members were also upset. But we’re happy that he (McInnis) is going to pay the money back. The foundation took the water study very seriously. It was a missed opportunity.”

Hasan, a filmmaker and screenpay writer who lives in Beaver Creek, said in an interview this week he strongly supports Amendment 60, Amendment 61, and Proposition 101.

The three ballot issues would put an end to fees that Hasan alleges are essentially taxes, force local and state governments to live within their means, and greatly strengthen the 1992 Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, he said.

Hasan is not only a fervent supporter of TABOR, but also considers its author — Colorado Springs resident Douglas Bruce –  one of his mentors and political heroes.

 “He’s one of the finest conservatives since Ronald Reagan,” he said. “I love him like a family member and he loves me very much.”

Asked about the $4.1 million raised by opponents of Amendment 60, Amendment 61, and Proposition 101, Hasan said they are going to need the money to defeat the initiatives.

He said he was confident that three measures would be approved by voters. “These are incredibly popular issues,” he said.

The El Paso County Board of County Commissioners are on record as being opposed to three ballot issues that critics say will deal a death blow to school districts, as well as local and state governments, by rolling back taxes and reining  in debt.

That says a lot because the five El Paso commissioners are among the most  fiscally conservative politicians in the state. In fact, the alleged mastermind behind the measures is one of their former board members: Colorado Springs resident Douglas Bruce.

“They just go too far,” Commissioner Dennis Hisey said of Amendment 60, Amendment 61 and Proposition 101.

Commissioner Sallie Clark said the ballot issues would impact roads, bridges, schools, libraries, water projects, fire districts, and human services. “It undoes what our forefathers envisioned as local government. It takes away our ability to manage within our budget.”

One of the measures, called Proposition 101, would not only reduce the state income tax rate, but would roll back car registration fees to $10. While Clark would like to see a reduction in motor vehicle fees, she says the reduction goes too far.

Testimony and evidence presented during a recent campaign finance hearing in Denver show that Bruce had a big hand in writing the three measures and organizing the massive-signature gathering campaign that qualified them to be put  on the ballot.

Bruce, who has denied involvement in the three measures, was ordered by Denver District Judge Brian Whitney to appear for a deposition in connection with the hearing. After 30 attempts to serve him with the court order, the judge found him in contempt of court.

A hearing on the contempt-of-court citation is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Monday in Whitney’s courtroom in Denver.

Issue 300, the so-called citizen initiative authored by Colorado Springs resident Douglas Bruce, got on the citywide ballot last November with a lot of help from out-of-state residents, including Michael Rhodes, city clerk’s records show

Although Rhodes was not present during a campaign finance hearing in Denver on May 24-25, spectators and witnesses heard him telling a Denver petition circulaton firm that it had a “cherry opportunity to make a stupid amount of money” by circulating petitions for three statewide measures at a conservative rally.

Rhodes is the head of ProVote America, a petition circulation company based in Los Angeles. He has not responded to emails requesting an interview.

Rhodes was the second-largest collector of signatures for Issue 300, gathering 2,162 signatures, or 14.5 percent, of the valid signatures needed to get on the ballot. Rhodes also gathered thousands of signatures for three statewide measures that will be on the November ballot.

Opponents say the measures, called Amendment 60, Amendment 61 and Proposition 101, would have a devastating impact on the state economy. Amendment 61, for example, would forbid the government from issuing bonds, which would stop big construction projects like the Southern Delivery System.

Issue 300, which ends payments to the city from its revenue-producing entities, will reduce city coffers by $100 million over the next eight years, Vice Mayor Larry Small has said.

Residents of Colorado Springs will be feeling the impact for years to come.

Former reporter Perry Swanson and I went to the City Clerk’s Office a couple of months ago and built a database of the petition circulators on Issue 300. Our research showed that at  least 14 of the 16 top signature gatherers listed below do not live in Colorado Springs. Here’s what we found:

Despite urging by the Secretary of State for immediate action, a petition for a court order that would compel Colorado Springs resident Douglas Bruce to appear at a deposition in connection with three campaign finance complaints is languishing in a Denver district courtroom.

After District Judge Morris Hoffman recused himself, the request was subsequently assigned to Judge Brian Whitney, a court clerk said. A spokesman in Judge Whitney’s office said this morning that no action has yet been taken on the petition.

The petition was filed late Friday by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, which represents the Secretary of State Bernie Buescher. The AG said the matter required “immediate attention and disposition” by the court because of Bruce’s “repeated refusals” to comply with lawfully issued subpoenas.

The three finance complaints were filed against the proponents of three issues that will be on the November ballot. Known as Amendment 60, Amendment 61, and Proposition 101,  the ballot issues would collectively reduce the income of state and local governments by $2 billion, critics allege.

Among other things, the measures would roll back the state income tax, cut the school mill levy rate, prohibit the state from borrowing, and eliminate taxes and fees related to motor vehicles and telecommunication accounts.

Professional petition circulators gathered thousands of signatures needed to get the measures on the ballot. Secretary of State records show that eight of those circulators lived in an apartment house owned by Colorado Springs resident Douglas Bruce.

Bruce is the author of the 1992 Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which limits the taxing and spending ability of local and state governments.  He also authored Issue 300, which effectively eliminated the city’s stormwater enterprise, and will cost the city millions of dollars in the coming years.

The circulators living in his house collected a total of roughly 75,000 signatures for the three statewide measures. Some of those same petition circulators also helped gather the signatures that put Issue 300 on the ballot, records show.

The circulators living in the Bruce-owned apartment have moved out. Two of them, contacted by cell phone, refused to discuss their work in Colorado.

The campaign finance complaints allege the proponents of the measures should have formed issues committees and reported the expenditures and contributions involved in the massive-signature gathering effort.

A committee founded by anti-tax advocate Douglas Bruce saw its assets increase by $250,000 in 2008.

When asked about the increase by a Gazette reporter on Wednesday, Bruce said he donated property he owned in California to the organization, which is called Active Citizens Together.

“There’s no law against giving a property, so there’s your answer. I’ve owned it for 25 years,” said Bruce, who authored the 1992 TABOR amendment, which limits how much government can grow in Colorado.

Papers filed with the IRS and publicly available through Guidestar show the committee’s  ”public support” went  from $14,588 in 2004 to $517,375 in 2008.

According to the 2008 filing, the committee’s primary purpose is to “advocate awareness of and enjoyment of all constitutional and other legal rights, including the bill of rights and petitions.”

The word ‘petition’ shows up for the first time in the 2008 statement. At about that time, Bruce launched two petition drives aimed at city-owned enterprises,  including Stormwater, Utilities and Memorial Health System.

The two ballot measures failed, but Bruce succeeded in getting a similar measure on the city ballot in 2009 with the help of professional petition circulators, several of whom lived in an apartment he owned on Boulder Street.

In 2009, voters approved Issue 300, which effectively ended payments to the city from its various enterprises. After the measure passed, the Colorado Springs City Council ended the Stormwater Enterprise, and the measure has contributed to the city’s ongoing financial problems.

Colorado Springs Utilities, the city-owned monopoly that supplies residents with gas, electricity, water and wastewater services, has told anti-tax advocate Douglas Bruce he’ll have to pay nearly $40,000 if he wants to restart water and wastewater services at seven rental properties.

Contending that the fees were almost tanamount to extortion, Bruce alleged that Utilities was imposing them because he was the proponent of Issue 300, a  measure approved by voters last fall that effectively abolished the city-owned Stormwater Enterprise.

“Just because you don’t like somebody, or he’s your political opponent, or he just beat you on Issue 300, you can’t charge him 400 times the going rate to turn on the valves,” Bruce said at the Utilities’ monthly board meeting last week.

Jerry Forte, the Utilities’ CEO, defended  the fees as reasonable. He said  whenever  owners abandon their property or disconnect from the system for a long period of time, other ratepayers have to pick up the costs.

Bruce said he has not abandoned his property and, in fact, was still paying utility fees on some parcels. “I haven’t left town. My yards are maintained. My property taxes are current.”

The fees, he said, were arbitrary and capricious and would not hold up to a legal challenge. “You’re planning to penalize me $40,000 because I’m your political adversary. There’s no way you can rationalize charging Douglas Bruce 400 times what you charge somebody else for turning on the water.”

Bruce is author of the 1992 Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which was approved by Colorado voters in 1992, and has restrained government growth.

In December, a month after voters approved Issue 300, Bruce sent a letter to Utilities asking to have an immediate turn-on and turn-off of water and wastewater services at seven rental properties in the city. He said he is willing to pay the standard $30 charges for each parcel, but asked Utilities not to actually put water in his lines because they had been blown out and were winterized.

Instead of fulfilling his request, Utilities officials sent him a letter saying his properties would be subject to some hefty reconnection and development charges. They were  as follows:

1)  839 E. Las Animas Street, a multifamily dwelling.  Utilities said the property last had water and wastewater service at that address  in 1998 and was deemed in abandoned in 2003.  The development charge was $26,032, but due to a rate change effective on Jan. 1, 2010, the cost would be $11,896. (Development charges are paid by developers and builders to hook into Utilities).

2) 2107 Preuss Road, a multi-family dwelling, which also had its last date of service in 1998 and was deemed abandoned by Utilities in 2003.  The development fee would also have been  $26,032, but the 2010 rate charge reduced the amount to $11,896.

3) 1326 W. Kiowa Street, a multi-family dwelling, last date of service in 1994 or earlier.  Development charge of $26,032, reduced to $11, 896,

4) 633 ½ Boulder St., cottage. Last date of service 2005, reconnection charge calculated at $752 and scheduled to increase to $783  in January 2010.

5) 2707 Monument St. Last date of service 2005.  Reconnection charge of $752, increasing to $783 in January 2010.

6) 2707 E. Monument St., rear.  Last date of service was 2006.  Reconnection charge calculated at $626 and would increase to $657 in January 2010.

7) 839 ½ E. Las Animas Street, rear.  Last date of service in 2002.  Reconnection charge is $752 and would increase to $783 in January 2010.

Bruce said the development fees amounted to placing  liens on his properties.  “I’m not going to spend $12,000 to rent an apartment for $500 a month. That’s crazy. You can’t let that practice stand and if you think you can, you’re going to find out you’re wrong.”

Out-of-state petition circulators collected almost 65 percent of the verified signatures required to put Issue 300 on the Colorado Springs ballot last fall, an analysis of the petitions on file in the City Clerk’s Office shows.

“They leave and then we stumble down the road of unintended consequences,” said Richard Skorman, a downtown businessman and former city council member.

Issue 300, which was authored by anti-tax advocate Douglas Bruce, effectively ended the Stormwater Enterprise.

Vice Mayor Larry Small said Thursday the measure will also reduce the money available in the city’s general fund by roughly $100 million or the next eight years or so. “It’s going to have a huge impact.”

Bruce has asked me not to email him or call him ever again so I couldn’t get his input for this piece.

The out-of-state circulators, who came to Colorado Springs to gather signatures for the Bruce-backed measure, as well as three anti-tax measures that will be on the statewide ballot in November, won’t talk about the organization of the petition drives or how they wound up in Colorado Springs.

“Here’s the deal. We’re in politics. We do petitions. And one of the things this fraternity does is we don’t talk about what we do. Don’t call me back again,” said Steve Rickabaugh, contacted on his mobile telephone this week.

Former Gazette staffer Perry Swanson did a computer analysis of the petitions. That analysis shows that Rickabaugh collected 2,259 verified signatures, or 15.1 percent, of the signatures verified for Issue 300.

Six of the out-of-state circulators – including Rickabaugh — lived in an apartment house Bruce owns on Boulder Street, according to affidavits on file with the City Clerk’s Office.

To most people, the signature-gathering process seems like the very bedrock of grassroots democracy. Reflecting that sentiment, U.S. Supreme Court noted a few years back noted that the right to petition is at “the zenith of our system of ordered liberties.”

But these days, petition drives, particularly when they deal with money issues, are cloaked in secrecy and often resemble stealth campaigns where both the financial backers and nomadic circulators prefer to remain anonymous.

“We’re putting issues on the ballot. We don’t want reporters getting involved,” said one veteran petition collector who asked that his name not be used because it could hurt his ability to make a living.

Opponents of the statewide measures – known as Amendment 60, Amendment 61, and Proposition 101 — have filed campaign finance complaints with the Secretary of State’s Office, demanding to know who the backers are. The complaints are scheduled to be heard in late March or early April.

Larry Bradshaw, another veteran petition circulator who came to Colorado Springs last summer to gather signatures for Issue 300 and the three statewide measures, lived for a while at the Chateau Motel on south Nevada Avenue.

Bradshaw and another man named Richard Riscol, who is still living at the motel, collected 1,702 verified signatures for Issue 300, or 11.4 percent of the total.

Bradshaw and Riscol were unwilling to discuss their activities. “I don’t talk about my work. I like to keep my business private,” Bradshaw said when contacted on his mobile telephone. Riscol also declined to comment through the front-desk clerk.

Jane Harwell, another former Boulder Street resident, would not say anything at all about her petition-gathering efforts.

“How’d you get my number?” she asked before hanging up.

Even the notaries public who notarized the affidavits that the circulators turned in with their petition packets were tight-lipped.

Jennifer Gleason, contacted in person at her residence on South Willamette, said, “I did it as a part-time job.”

She then opened the front door to her apartment house. “You can go now.”

(Perry Swanson contributed to this report.)