Anti-tax activist Douglas Bruce has hired noted Denver lawyer David Lane to represent him in a contempt-of-court case.

Bruce, who has represented himself in court, is set to appear Aug. 18 in Denver District Court. The citation stems from a campaign-finance case trying to determine how three tax-slashing initiatives were funded.

Opponents of the initiatives say Bruce has been stonewalling legal attempts to get information from him. The former Republican legislator from Colorado Springs is best known as the father of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

Bruce appeared before Denver District Judge Brian Whitney on July 26 in a hearing on the contempt citation, but Whitney agreed to continue the case until Aug. 18 to give Bruce more time to prepare his defense. Lane has filed a motion asking Whitney to postpone the hearing even longer.

Lane represented “Balloon Boy” father Richard Heene; Tim Masters, who won $10 million in settlements after being wrongly imprisoned for a decade, and former University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill.

In court papers, Lane said he “will be in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Aug. 18 as part of his representation of five detainees imprisoned by the United States, and will thus be unavailable for the scheduled hearing.”

Attorney General John Suthers’ office, representing Secretary of State Bernie Buescher in the campaign-finance case, objected to further delays in the contempt case.

Read more: denverpost.com

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