On Fox 31's Colorado 2031, Zappolo failed to clarify Bruce's suggestion that he was "elected" to state legislature

Summary: On KDVR Fox 31's Colorado 2031 program on January 20, host Ron Zappolo did not clarify guest Republican state Rep. Douglas Bruce's suggestion that he was "elected" to the Colorado General Assembly. Bruce stated that he "ran" as "the 'unpolitician,' " and that he "was elected" to "talk about public policy issues," but Zappolo failed to make clear that a Republican Party committee appointed Bruce in December to succeed state Rep. Bill Cadman, who resigned to fill a vacant state Senate seat.

On the January 20 broadcast of KDVR Fox 31's Colorado 2031, host Ron Zappolo allowed state Rep. Douglas Bruce (R-Colorado Springs) to suggest that he was elected to the Colorado General Assembly. In fact, Bruce was appointed to the state legislature on December 1 by vote of a Republican Party committee, to fill a vacancy in the House of Representatives.

On January 14, shortly before being sworn into office, Bruce kicked a Rocky Mountain News photographer on the House floor. According to the News, Bruce "remained unapologetic, insisting that photographer Javier Manzano provoked him by using a flash to take his picture during the morning prayer in the House." On January 15, House Speaker Andrew Romanoff (D-Denver) and House Minority Leader Mike May (R-Parker) formed a committee to investigate the kicking incident, and on January 18, the committee recommended that the House censure Bruce. As the News reported on January 19:

In the end, it wasn't kicking a Rocky photographer that put Rep. Douglas Bruce on track for the first censure in the Colorado legislature's 131-year history.

It was his refusal to take responsibility for his actions or to say he was sorry.

A panel of six House members on Friday sounded like parents scolding a recalcitrant child as they voted to recommend the censure.

They also suggested that the House make Bruce stand in the lowest point in the chamber, known as the well, and apologize for disgracing its time-honored tradition of decorum and respect.

Discussing the kicking incident on Colorado 2031, Zappolo asked Bruce, "You're the politician. You've got to be bigger. Don't you have to be bigger than all this?" Bruce replied, "I'm the 'unpolitician.' That's what I ran as." After Zappolo said, "Well, but you're over there in the House," Bruce replied, "I'm in the House, but obviously, you know, this original incident was, they had this feeding frenzy, and now they had a new story for the whole week. And at some point I'd like to get down and talk about public policy issues. That's what I was elected to do."

However, Zappolo failed to clarify that while Bruce was in fact elected to the El Paso County Commission in 2004, he was appointed to the Colorado House of Representatives on December 1, by a Republican vacancy committee to succeed Rep. Bill Cadman (R-Colorado Springs), who resigned to fill a vacant state Senate seat. As The Gazette of Colorado Springs reported on December 3, Bruce "easily won an appointment Saturday to fill the House District 15 seat in northeast Colorado Springs. Bruce received 44 votes from a Republican vacancy committee, while former school board candidate Reginald Perry received 16 and businessman Steve Hasbrouck got the remaining six."

From the January 20 broadcast of KDVR Fox 31's Colorado 2031:

ZAPPOLO: Would you agree the photographers had just as much right to be there, though, as you did?

BRUCE: He didn't have a right, in my view, to disrupt a public prayer, to disrupt a public meeting, to violate the order and decorum of the House. He was told not to sit in the aisle and block the aisle, and then he got up and sat back down again.

ZAPPOLO: But does it bother you that the majority of your peers disagree with that?

BRUCE: You know what, I'm not surprised, after 21 years of being criticized by people in office. You know, they wanted me to go say, "Oh, it's all my fault," you know --

ZAPPOLO: You won't do that.

BRUCE: No. I did say I regret that the incident happened. I said that three times today. I said it won't happen again, because, of course, in the future I'm not going to be backed into a wall as a guest during a prayer. I wasn't going to go down and wrestle him for the camera. I wasn't going to run away during the prayer. The members are in their seats, and the photographers are not allowed there. So once you're a member in your seat, the photographer cannot come up in your face and go flash, flash, flash, "Oh, look at this man. He's praying. Ha, ha, ha."

ZAPPOLO: You're the politician. You've got to be bigger. Don't you have to be bigger than all this?

BRUCE: I'm the "unpolitician." That's what I ran as.

ZAPPOLO: Well, but you're over there in the House, so you're --

BRUCE: I may be over there, but -- I'm in the House, but obviously, you know, this original incident was, they had this feeding frenzy, and now they had a new story for the whole week. And at some point I'd like to get down and talk about public policy issues. That's what I was elected to do. This idea that I -- after 21 years as a former prosecutor, prosecuting people who commit crimes -- to say that what I did was an act of violence, you know, to go like that [motions with his hand], it would be no different if he were up in front of my face --

ZAPPOLO: Right.

BRUCE: -- within a foot of poking him on the shoulder and saying, "Give me some space."

—C.H.