Gov. Jared Polis said Thursday that he remained “proud to be a Democrat” even after the state party’s central committee voted overwhelmingly to censure him for commuting Tina Peters’ prison sentence for election-related crimes.
But first, he ate a carrot.
Polis, speaking at the signing event for to support healthy eating and food access, chewed on the carrot for nearly 15 seconds before answering a question about whether he’d wear the censure from his party like a badge of honor. Wednesday night’s unusual action against a governor of the same party included a ban on the Colorado Democratic Party hosting Polis as a featured speaker, as an officially recognized participant or as an honored guest at party functions.
“Marlon and the kids were thrilled because they thought it meant I’d be home earlier because, instead of going to three events a night, they thought I’d be going to two a night,” Polis joked, referring to his husband, first gentleman Marlon Reis.
Polis, who is term-limited from running again this year, granted commutation to Peters on Friday, halving the former Mesa County clerk’s original sentence of nine years and ordering her release on parole June 1.
He faced immediate, intense backlash from a raft of fellow Democrats, who accused him of buckling to President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign, making light of an existential threat to American democracy and sidestepping two coequal branches of government.
Polis countered that he felt Peters, 70, was being unduly punished for protected free speech — even if he vehemently disagreed with her conspiracy theories about Colorado’s elections. He has maintained that he didn’t consider outside political pressure in granting Peters clemency.
On Thursday, Polis said he hadn’t spoken to Trump or anyone in the presidentap administration since commuting Peters’ sentence late last week.
He also invoked the 50-year-old landmark legal ruling in , in which a Jewish lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union successfully defended the First Amendment rights of a Nazi group to demonstrate in the northern Chicago suburb.
“We’d very much be sacrificing who we are if we suppress the free speech of any individuals,” Polis said. “… I think itap very important that we protect people in this moment of time, and in every moment of time, as we fight against the overreach of the Trump administration.”
Clemency application released
On Thursday, Peters posted a copy of the clemency application she’d filed with the governor’s office on her website. Separately, the governor’s office on Thursday denied The Denver Post’s request to release the document.
In the application, former Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler argued on her behalf that Peters faced “an extremely harsh and unusual sentence” based on her “sincere belief that she was helping, not harming, the election process in Colorado.”
Peters was of several felonies related to using another person’s security badge to give a third party access to state election systems following the 2020 election. That person, who was affiliated with noted election denier Mike Lindell, then made images of the election system’s hard drive.
Besides three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, Peters was convicted of a count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with the secretary of state.
Peters did not harm anyone, damage any property, deny any votes or otherwise affect the election, wrote Gessler, a Republican. He called it “highly unlikely” that Peters would ever again be in a position to commit those types of crimes since she was no longer the elected clerk and recorder.
Gessler instead emphasized public comments made by people who pressed for “maximum incarceration,” and which he characterized as motivated by Peters’ “views on election integrity.”
“Although covered by a thin veneer of public safety concerns, these arguments seek to keep Mrs. Peters incarcerated so that her views will be muffled and so that she will be prevented from advocating for her preferred policies,” Gessler wrote. “Bluntly stated, they want to keep her in prison, to stifle her ideas and stifle her speech.”
Many in Polis’ party and those involved in the criminal prosecution of Peters — including the Republican Mesa County district attorney — have rejected the governor’s free speech-related characterizations of her sentence. They argue that Peters’ lack of remorse for her crimes and the threat she posed to election integrity demanded a harsh sentence.
But Polis has cited part of a recent Colorado Court of Appeals decision that ordered her resentencing, in part out of concern that her comments were held against her by the judge. That resentencing was still pending when Polis acted.
Party: Coloradans ‘expect us to defend’ values
Nearly 90% of the state Democratic Party Central Committee voted Wednesday night to condemn Polis “for conduct inconsistent with the Colorado Democratic Party’s commitment to democratic institutions, election integrity and public accountability.” The central committee has hundreds of members, though itap not clear how many voted.
“Colorado Democrats will continue standing up for the rule of law, secure elections and the democratic values Coloradans expect us to defend,” party Chair Shad Murib said in a statement after the vote. “Thatap the difference between us and the cult of Donald Trump that is the Republican Party, and we look forward to doing our part to take our country back this November.”
More than 700 people signed on to the complaint before the committee voted on the issue, including several state senators and representatives. U.S. Rep. Jason Crow issued a statement supporting the censure shortly before the vote, making him the highest-ranking elected Democrat to support the action.
“The Democratic Party must fight for democracy and the rule of law,” Crow said. “We must be consistent, courageous, resolute, and willing to call out our own when they fall short.”
Phil Chen, an associate professor of political science at the University of Denver, said he didn’t expect much in terms of long-term political consequences for Polis.
The governor is term-limited and, short of a special session, the legislature isn’t expected to meet again during his tenure. But Chen noted that there could be nonpolitical consequences for the decision, particularly if Peters’ commutation emboldens other election conspiracists to meddle with voting systems.
The decision does highlight the ongoing “anxiety and anger” in the Democratic Party about false claims of election security, Chen said. The censure further shows that rank-and-file members see the clemency as “a betrayal of a core issue” among Democrats.
But he said Polis’ conviction that clemency was the right decision and the party’s anger about it aren’t necessarily in opposition, either.
“It can be both things. He thought it was the right thing to do, and the censure from the Colorado Democratic Party was what it thought was the right thing to do,” Chen said.
Polis didn’t fight the party’s decision in his comments Thursday, but he used the occasion to draw a contrast with the state Republican Party. The GOP to close its primary election to unaffiliated voters, even as that voting bloc has grown to include more than half of Colorado’s voters.
“I’m really proud to be a Democrat because, when I see the Republican central committee trying to abolish (open) primaries, I’d much rather be in a party thatap talking about who can speak at different events and how they’re treated,” Polis said.
