The Colorado Democrat Party on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to censure Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) for commuting the sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who was sentenced for her role in tampering with election equipment.
The central committee of the Colorado Democratic Party voted 89.9 percent in support of the measure to censure Polis. The censure prohibits him from speaking at or taking part in party-sponsored events.
Polis has said that the petition to censure him is politically motivated, with the petition issued in reaction to Polis’s move to commute the sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Peters. A judge gave her nine years for her role in tampering with election equipment to prove claims of election fraud.
The Colorado governor cut Peters’ sentence in half and she could be paroled as early as June.
“My goal is to make the right decision with the information I have, and that’s exactly what I did in this case,” Polis explained.
“I think the fact this has seemingly become so partisan shows the problem with this case, frankly. No case should be viewed from a partisan lens. Each case is about an individual and the crime they committed.”
He said that no other public official received as drastic a sentence as Peters.
“In nearly every case we saw probation, we saw 6 months,” he said.
“Clearly, her free speech — however much we disagree with it — was used as a factor in that sentencing,” he added.
“This was not just one act. This was a months-long pattern of deception to try to violate every security protocol we had as the person we entrusted specifically for that,” Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubenstein said in reaction to Polis.
“It’s caught up in the zeitgeist of the partisan divide which is a horrific thing that rips my heart apart, this divide that’s facing this country and our state. And I really hope that doesn’t impugn each individual sense of justice, whether they’re Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative. We need to make sure that you’re punished based on the crime regardless of your beliefs,” Polis remarked.
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