Colorado Governor Censured By Democrats For Tina Peters Commutation
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Democrats want Tina Peters to remain in prison.
They just censured Colorado Democrat Governor Jared Polis for commuting her sentence.
Colorado Democrats voted Wednesday to censure Gov. Jared Polis, a fellow Democrat, for commuting the prison sentence of an election denier who had been serving nine years in state prison for tampering with voting systems.
“Reducing her sentence now, under pressure from Donald Trump, is not justice,” the Colorado Democratic Party said in a statement. “It sends a message to future bad actors that election tampering has consequences, unless you’re friends with the president. That’s a dangerous and disappointing precedent to set.”
Last Friday, Polis reduced former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ nine-year sentence, saying her term was disproportionate to the crime. Peters will be eligible for parole June 1.
Polis said that compared to other cases, Tina Peters had a far steeper sentence than all of them.
He also said it was clear her free speech “was used as a factor in that sentencing.”
The governor says he looked at other cases of corruption by public officials and none of them had sentences as steep as Peters.
“In nearly every case we saw probation, we saw 6 months,” he said.
Peters’ sentence, he says, was based too much on what she said rather than what she did. The appellate court raised the same concern.
“Clearly, her free speech — however much we disagree with it — was used as a factor in that sentencing,” Polis said.
