Given the circumstances, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis knew that his commutation for Tina Peters would be highly controversial. After all, the Democratic governor, who previously said he would allow Peters’ appeals process to play out before intervening, waited until a Friday afternoon to announce his decision — a time popular with politicians who want their decisions to go largely unnoticed.
Polis’ move, however, stood out anyway. Jena Griswold, Colorado’s Democratic secretary of state, said “it was a dark day for democracy” and “selling out our state’s justice system for Trump is an affront to the rule of law.” Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, a leading gubernatorial candidate, expressed his vehement disagreement with Polis agreeing to free one of the president’s favorite convicted felons.
“Lawlessness only breeds more lawlessness,” Bennet said.
Also on Capitol Hill, Rep. Joe Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the Committee on House Administration, which has jurisdiction over federal elections, added, “At a moment when Donald Trump and his allies continue to spread dangerous lies about our elections, undermining accountability only weakens confidence in the rule of law and makes the work of safeguarding free and fair elections even harder.” Around the same time, Phil Weiser, Colorado’s Democratic attorney general called the governor’s move “mind-boggling.”
Even some Republicans were not pleased. Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein, who prosecuted Peters, called the commutation bill a “misguided and misunderstood” decision that “undermined accountability and eroded confidence in the integrity of the system.”
Similarly, Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, added, “Gov. Polis is bending the knee to the same political voices and conspiracy theories that are undermining belief in our democratic institutions. This is now Gov. Polis’ legacy. He will not be able to run from it.”
With pushback like this coming quickly late last week, the governor spoke at some length with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Friday night and presented a curious defense.
At the outset, for example, Polis, who’s nearing the end of his second and final term, said Peters “did not commit any crimes regarding the 2020 elections.” When I heard this, I initially thought he simply misspoke, but he proceeded to repeat the claim several additional times in the same interview.
This was quite odd. The whole point of Peters’ crimes was that she was trying to substantiate false and conspiratorial claims about the 2020 election. For the governor to repeatedly tell a national television audience that her crimes were entirely unrelated to the 2020 race was bizarre.
But then he went further, telling Collins:
[Peters] has very strange beliefs. She’ll probably continue to have them. We don’t punish people in this country for having strange beliefs. … And that’s what happened here because, of her speech and what she believes, which I vehemently disagree with, and I share the passion and the emotions that so many people feel, who are outraged by the words she says. But the place to resolve those differences is by debate, by discourse, by arguing with her, with by disputing her. Not for keeping her behind bars, simply because of what she believes or says.
I don’t understand what it is that the governor doesn’t understand. No one has ever suggested that Peters should be imprisoned because of her very strange beliefs. Rather, many in both parties have argued that Peters should be held accountable because of all the felonies she committed.
This isn’t complicated. Conspiracy theorists are free to believe what they wish. It’s a free country. But when officials start using their offices to violate the public trust, literally breaking laws to advance their conspiracy theories, that’s qualitatively different.
It moves the conversation away from “debate” and “discourse” and into the criminal justice system. That’s why the criminal justice system exists: It adjudicates cases when people cross legal lines — not political or philosophical lines.
Peters had her day in court and presented a defense. She also showed no remorse for all the felonies she committed. Her conviction, secured by a Republican prosecutor, was a no-brainer.
Polis had plenty of time to come up with a defense for his decision. The fact that he pitched transparent nonsense suggests that he really did succumb to Donald Trump’s extortion efforts, though the governor was reluctant to say so.
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