Douglas Bruce isn’t all bad (his anti-tax instincts are admirable, for instance), but he’s definitely part bad. And it’s a big part.

Earlier in the morning, the Colorado Springs Republican tried to make light of the gaggle of reporters and photographers following him around this morning.

But his patience snapped as photographers from the Rocky and Denver Post crouched before him to shoot his picture as he stood for the House’s morning prayer.

Bruce told Rocky photographer Javier Manzano “Don’t do that again,” and then gave him a swift kick in the knee.

Asked by reporters in his office about the incident, Bruce said his kick was warranted and that he had warned the photographers not to take his picture during the prayer and Pledge of Allegiance.

“In 21 years, I don’t think there has ever been an instance where I had to do something to stop somebody from behaving in such a coarse and disgusting way,” Bruce said.

Bruce needs to learn some manners. These photographers have a job: take pictures of the newsworthy events of the day. It may have bugged Bruce a bit that it was centered on him, that it was happening during prayer, that it was noisier than he thought it should be. None of which is a good excuse for going around and kicking the press. At least not physically--keep the kicking of the press metaphorical and I’m all for it. What Bruce did was childish and stupid.

Funny the he would do something so crass and then turn around and complain about someone else “behaving in such a coarse and disgusting way.”

Indeed, we are disgusted. Just not by the photographer’s behavior.

Douglas Bruce nearly guaranteed the extra attention through the strange maneuvering that alienated some of his GOP fellow travelers.

[House Speaker] Romanoff and House Minority Leader Mike May had urged Bruce to show up for the beginning of the legislative session last week, but Bruce refused, saying he wanted to delay his start so that he would be eligible to serve eight additional years after his current term is over.

Bruce was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Bill Cadman, who was appointed to fill a Senate vacancy.

Romanoff last week offered to swear in Bruce at 8 this morning, but Bruce refused that offer, saying he wanted to be sworn in while the House was in session, starting at 10 a.m.

That would have been an unprecedented honor that no appointed lawmaker is accorded.
[...]
Fed up with Bruce’s waiting game on being sworn in, the House Republican Caucus voted 22-1 immediately after the morning session to make the appointed lawmaker’s seat vacant again if he didn’t take the oath by day’s end.

“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 irritated Republicans have become with their new colleague.

“He can take the oath or take a hike,” the Littleton Republican said.

I find myself wishing Bruce had chosen to take a hike. All he’s managed to prove so far is that he has a monumentally inflated sense of self, no people skills, and the manners of a naughty child. That’s not what I would consider good representation.

The Rocky’s editor, John Temple, had the right response.

“For a person to believe that he can provide a lesson in decorum by kicking another human being is unfathomable,” Temple said. “Mr. Bruce’s conduct was totally out of line. He owes the photographer and the full House an apology.”

Read the rest.