Democrats who control the Colorado statehouse may have had their fair share of policy disagreements over the years, but there’s one thing they can all agree on: Gov. Jared Polis should not reduce the sentence of former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters.
In a letter sent to the Democratic governor this week, every member of his party in the state legislature urged Polis to stay out of it, and to let the legal system determine any sentencing changes in Peters’ case.
“We urge you to allow that process to advance and for the judicial system alone to handle review of any further actions in this case,” states the March 10 letter signed by every Democratic lawmaker.
Peters is serving a nine-year sentence at a women’s correctional facility in Pueblo for her role in facilitating unauthorized access to Mesa County’s voting equipment to try and prove voter fraud occurred in the 2020 election. Audits in Colorado and across the country have found no evidence of a stolen presidential election.
Peters maintains she did nothing wrong and is appealing her case. In January a panel of Colorado appellate judges scrutinized arguments as to what claims she should have been able to make at trial in 2024, and whether or not a judge’s strong words for her suggested too harsh a sentence. There’s no set timeline for a decision.
In the meantime, Peters and her allies, including President Trump, are calling for her release and she has asked the governor for clemency.
Senate President James Coleman said in a media briefing Wednesday that it is important for Democrats to formally raise concerns with the governor, and strongly ask him not to offer Peters clemency.
“Just making sure that folks in the state of Colorado know where we stand,” Coleman said.
Legislative Democrats say Peters has shown no remorse and taken no accountability for her actions, which they add have fueled election conspiracy theories and undermined the integrity of the election system.
“We fear that any clemency or other sentence reduction on your part will further embolden these conspiracies and those who propagate them,” the lawmakers wrote. “We urge you not to empower those who seek to undermine our elections and our Republic by providing them with a figurehead to rally around and near assurance that, when you tamper with our elections, you will escape justice.”
Polis indicated he was considering a commutation, not a pardon and told Democrats that he wouldn’t make a decision until the appeals court ruled on her sentencing. But the governor’s musings on social media earlier this month provoked an outcry from members of his own party and some Republicans in the state.
In early March, Polis took to social media and compared the sentence Peters received with that of former Colorado Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, sparking a wave of speculation that he’d commute Peters’ sentence.
The former lawmaker received community service and probation after being found guilty of one count of attempting to influence a public servant and three counts of forgery for her role in trying to mislead the Colorado Senate Ethics Committee, which was investigating her alleged mistreatment of her aides.
A Mesa County jury convicted Peters of three counts of attempting to influence a public servant along with four other charges related to her involvement in the election security breach in 2021.
In an earlier interview with Colorado Matters, Polis talked about the value of mercy but said he would only consider clemency based on standard, non-political factors like health or age, and contrition.
- Uncertainty about a reduced sentence for Tina Peters causes frustration and confusion
- Not a single Democrat in the Colorado legislature says Jared Polis should reduce Tina Peters’ sentence. He appears set to do it anyway.
- What Polis’ clemency history suggests about future actions
- From a South Dakota stage to a national platform: The winding road that got Tina Peters on the President’s radar
- Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters involved in prison altercation, Department of Corrections says
