January 14, 2008 11:12 AM
House GOP votes 22-1 to oust Bruce if he doesn't take oath today
By Alan Gathright
Fed up with Representative-elect Douglas Bruce's waiting game on being sworn-in, the House Republican Caucus voted 22-1 today to make the appointed lawmaker's seat vacant again if he doesn't take the oath by day's end.
Bruce, who is scheduled to be sworn-in at 1:30 p.m. in an empty chamber, had stubbornly insisted on taking the oath before the full House -- an unprecedented honor that no lawmaker appointed to fill a mid-term vacancy is accorded.
“The citizens of his House district need to be represented,” House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, said during the caucus, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette. “This can’t go on. We can’t have this sideshow every day of someone refusing to take the oath of office.”
Rep. Jim Kerr expressed just how irritate Republicans have become with their new colleague.
“He can take the oath or take a hike," the Littleton Republican said.
Rep. Al White, R-Hayden, introduced the resolution, saying the caucus must show Bruce that “no individual is greater than the office we represent or the constituents we represent,” according to the Gazette.
Other party members shouted their approval of the motion, with only Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, disagreeing by saying that Bruce should be given more time.
Even Rep. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, the lawmaker who helped Bruce enter the floor this morning as a guest, voted against him.
"It’s the very strong sense of the Republican Caucus that a member who is elected or appointed to fill a vacancy ought to take the oath of office within a reasonable time and begin representing one’s constituents," Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, said after the vote.
The non-binding vote would direct the Republican committee that appointed Bruce to fill a vacancy to find another appointee unless Bruce becomes an official lawmaker today.
Gardner said Bruce's five-day delay in arriving after the session's start and his swearing-in demand "is certainly a destraction" from the House's work -- and the Republican Minority's efforts to focus attention on the party agenda.
“It’s also a sense that no single member of this body, of either party, is larger than the party or the work that we do. This is not about any single individual,” Gardner said.
“We believe very strongly as representatives, and it is what I think we were expressing in our caucus today, that we expect people to be present for duty and to represent their constituents," he added. "Even more critical – our party is in the minority and we need each and every vote all of the time," he said.
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