During the October 25 broadcast of his Newsradio 850 KOA show, “Gunny” Bob Newman asserted that “many radical liberals want you to vote against” Referendum E -- a ballot initiative that would provide a property tax break to disabled veterans in Colorado -- because, stated Newman, “they hate the military.” In fact, according to at least two Colorado media outlets, Referendum E has faced very little official opposition from anyone. Instead, as the Rocky Mountain News and the Fort Collins Coloradoan have reported, the chief opponent of Referendum E is Douglas Bruce, a conservative anti-tax activist and Republican El Paso County Commissioner.

According to the Colorado Blue Book, which summarizes the state ballot issues, Referendum E would extend “the existing property tax exemption for qualifying seniors to any United States military veteran who is one hundred percent permanently disabled due to a service-connected disability.” The referendum was referred to voters by the Colorado General Assembly, where it received broad bipartisan support. In the state senate, the measure had 12 Democratic sponsors and 15 Republican sponsors; in the house, it had 27 Democratic sponsors and 16 Republican sponsors. Moreover, as the Coloradoan noted in an October 28 article, “No opposition groups [against Referendum E] have officially registered with the state.”

During his show, Newman stated that “Referendum E will reduce property taxes a little bit, of -- for 100 percent disabled veterans -- only 100 percent disabled veterans. I'm going to vote yes on that. That's the least we can do for those who are totally disabled as a result of their service.” He then stated, “Many radical liberals want you to vote against this measure because they hate the military.”

Contrary to Newman's claim that “many radical liberals” oppose Referendum E, the News and the Coloradoan instead have identified Bruce as Referendum E's chief opponent.

As the News reported on October 11, Bruce argued that “the Colorado Constitution should not be amended to provide a special tax break that solely benefits a special class of veterans and residents.” According to the News:

The ballot measure [Referendum E] has drawn only a few opponents. Chief among them is anti-tax crusader Douglas Bruce, who argues that the Colorado Constitution should not be amended to provide a special tax break that solely benefits a special class of veterans and residents, contending that it comes at the expense of all other taxpayers.

“Less than one-twentieth of 1 percent of the population gets a tax break carved out for them in the constitution,” Bruce said. “I'm the only person willing to stand up and resist this sympathetic group.

”I want to see state government operate morally and on principle and not make special deals for a special-interest group," he added.

Bruce argues, too, that the property-tax break would be given to disabled veterans regardless of whether they demonstrate a need. For example, a disabled veteran who lives in a $500,000 house that is paid off would get the same tax break as those vets who are struggling, he said.

Similarly, the October 28 Coloradoan article reported, “Douglas Bruce, the Colorado Springs anti-tax activist, does not support the measure [Referendum E], primarily because the exemption only applies to a small percentage of Colorado residents.”

On his page on the El Paso Board of County Commissioners website, Bruce describes himself as “a pro-life, traditional family values, social and fiscal conservative -- a Ronald Reagan Republican.” In a February 17, 2006, opinion piece in the News, conservative talk show host and columnist Mike Rosen, Newman's colleague at Newsradio 850 KOA, labeled Bruce an “ultra-conservative.”

As the News reported on October 24, “Bruce is well-known in Colorado Springs and throughout the state as the author of the TABOR amendment, which restricts government spending and taxation.”

From the October 25 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Gunny Bob Show:

NEWMAN: We're talking about Amendment 44, the doper amendment; we're talking about Amendment 42, the living wage amendment; we're talking about Amendment 43, which is the marriage amendment; we're talking about Referendum J, which is really a ploy by extremists to work against Amendment 39; we're talking about Referendum E. Referendum E will reduce property taxes a little bit, of -- for 100 percent disabled veterans -- only 100 percent disabled veterans. I'm going to vote yes on that. That's the least we can do for those who are totally disabled as a result of their service. Many radical liberals want you to vote against this measure because they hate the military. And vote yes is my recommendation on Referendum E. Oh, by the way, before we go back to the phones, I've been getting quite a few hate mails from one fellow today by the name of Bing, who -- and one other hate mail from somebody else, but I don't know why I got that one -- he didn't make that very clear -- and it all had to do with one of our poll questions this week. And it was interesting, because 96 percent of those responding said yes, that radical liberals do get a kick out of watching the CNN sniper videos of our soldiers being killed. The key word, of course, being “radical,” and that's how it was written and phrased. And this fellow Bing keeps writing me vicious, nasty hate mail, telling all kinds of terrible lies and -- but, you know, that's what politics does to some people.