Do it yourself.

That was the message Thursday from the Colorado Court of Appeals to the City of Colorado Springs when it issued a decision in a convoluted year-long campaign finance legal battle. The question was whose job it was to address a campaign finance complaint.

And the target of the complaint was, unsurprisingly, tax evader Douglas Bruce.

During the municipal election campaign last year, a government watchdog group filed a complaint with the city, alleging that Bruce and his “Reform Team” had broken campaign finance ordinances.

The city tried to hand off  the complaint to the secretary of state. But the secretary of state wasn’t having it, and forwarded the matter to an administrative law judge.

The judge ruled last March that the city was shirking its duty, and said the state has no jurisdiction in the case because Colorado Springs is a home-rule city. In other words, the judge ordered the city to deal with the complaint against Bruce and his teammates on its own.

The city appealed the court’s decision.

And on Thursday, the three-member Court of Appeals panel backed up the lower judge, and told the city to do its job.

“The City cites no authority, and we are aware of none, for its view that it may force a state agency to enforce the City’s own ordinance,” Judge Gale Miller wrote.

Colorado Ethics Watch, the group behind the complaint against Bruce and the Reform Team, said it was satisfied with the decision, and would not pursue further action against Bruce.

“I don’t think it means anything. He’s got bigger problems,” said Ethics Watch Director Luis Toro.

Bruce is in Denver County Jail, serving a 180-day sentence on multiple tax-related crimes he was convicted of in December.

The penalty for violating the campaign finance ordinances is a $500 fine per offense, and those convicted  become ineligible to hold office.

A representative from the city attorney’s office was not available Thursday for comment.

—Contact John Schroyer: 476-4825Twitter @JohnschroyerFacebook Gazette John Schroyer

Joshua Carrier Photo by