This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
The Colorado Democratic Party voted to formally censure the state’s top elected Democrat, Gov. Jared Polis. The party also suspended him from speaking at Democratic Party events or functions or attending as a featured guest.
Polis cannot be an officially recognized representative of the Colorado Democratic Party at those events over his decision to reduce the nearly nine-year prison sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters.
During a virtual meeting Wednesday evening, 90% of the Democratic Party’s State Central Committee voted to censure Polis and condemn his actions. Party member Andrew Brandt said the governor has been problematic for a long time and this was a final straw.
“I cannot tolerate a governor who treats a law-breaking county clerk and recorder in this way,” he said. "I've been working as an election ballot judge, and our jobs are difficult enough without this move. And as a cybersecurity professional, what Ms. Peters did was not only criminal, but nonsensical, and we cannot as a party or state allow this commutation to go unheeded.”
The party’s unprecedented rebuke of its top leader condemned Polis’ decision to reduce the sentence and said it was “detrimental to the interests of the Colorado Democratic Party.”
Peters, an ally of President Donald Trump, was convicted in 2024 for her efforts to tamper with county voting machines six months after the 2020 election, as she sought to prove election rigging. She is scheduled to be released on parole June 1.
Polis’ commutation came after a months-long pressure campaign from President Trump and his administration. The governor, who is term-limited, said he did not bow to outside influences and that he thought the sentence Peters received was too harsh and violated her constitutional rights.
In April, a state appeals court upheld Peters' 2024 conviction but ruled that she should be re-sentenced. The court also found that the trial court judge improperly factored in Peters’ protected speech in handing down his sentence.
“The tenor of the court’s comments makes clear that it felt the sentence length was necessary, at least in part, to prevent her from continuing to espouse views the court deemed ‘damaging,’” said the appeals court opinion.
Polis’ decision didn’t come as a surprise, as he had floated the idea for months. While Polis said Peters committed a crime, “it did not interfere with any election, did not have to do with ballot counting, but it was illegal access to the computer room,” Polis said in an interview with CPR Friday morning, the day he commuted Peters’ sentence.
But the negative reaction to the commutation was swift.
Roughly 600 Democratic state officials, lawmakers, party organizers, and voters signed a complaint filed Monday asking the state party to take action and censure Polis.
Central committee member Manuel Solano said the decision to re-sentence Peters, as ordered by the appeals court, should have played out and been decided by the judge who heard the case.
“He heard all the arguments, he saw all the evidence, and Jared Polis should never undermine our legal system,” he said.
The resolution said the party agreed with the Republican district attorney who prosecuted the case that commutation was a gross injustice.
“Reducing her sentence now, under pressure from Donald Trump, is not justice. It sends a message to future bad actors that election tampering has consequences unless you're friends with the president,” said DNC member Stephanie Beal, who read the language to the committee. “That's a dangerous and disappointing precedent to set. Colorado has spent years building trust in our elections and proving they are secure at a time when democracy and voting rights are under attack across the nation. Weakening accountability for someone convicted of undermining that trust is a mistake.”
Not every Democrat agreed with the decision.
“I believe that Tina Peters was way too harshly sentenced,” said Ann la Plante, a criminal defense attorney. She called the censure a really bad idea.
“I don't believe we should be censuring a governor. I don't believe we should be sending him away, although he rarely comes.”
Peters’ lead attorney, Peter Ticktin, defended Polis in an interview with CPR earlier Wednesday. He said Polis did what he should do as governor and made the right and humane decision. He called Democratic complaints nonsense, “to be second-guessing him because of your anger?”
He noted that a governor is governor for all of the people.
“And for him to look at this and realize that this sentence was crazy, he didn't say it was crazy. He said it was overly harsh. For him to see that — and see the wrong and realize it's his responsibility to right that wrong — doesn't make him evil. It makes him appropriate,” Ticktin said.
In a statement to CPR News about the complaint, spokesman Eric Maruyama said the governor appreciates that many in his party disagree with him and are disappointed, but said he ultimately made the decision he felt was right, not popular, and agreed with an appellate court’s finding that the State of Colorado violated her 1st Amendment rights and wanted an expeditious remedy to that violation rather than likely waiting years for lengthy court appeals and delays.
“One of the great things about the Democratic Party is that we are a big tent, and there is space to debate and disagree. No clemency decision should be granted only on whether it will be popular. The governor is often attacked on clemency decisions but is a deep believer in mercy. No matter what, the governor will continue to fight to make life better for every Coloradan,” said Maruyama in a written statement.
