The Sentinel, republishing Colorado Newsline, reports that Gov. Jared Polis fired two members of his Executive Clemency Advisory Board after they publicly disclosed the board’s recommendation against releasing Tina Peters. Polis says the firings were about confidentiality and preserving the integrity of clemency deliberations, not retaliation for the board members rebuking his decision.
Fine. That is the official explanation. It may even be technically true. Clemency deliberations are supposed to be confidential, serious, and insulated from political theater. Board votes and proceedings are confidential under the governor’s executive order, and if board members breached that confidentiality, that matters.
But Coloradans are allowed to squint at the cleanest possible version of events like it came from a used-car lot in a hailstorm. Because every politically explosive mess in this state seems to become a lecture about “process integrity” right after someone embarrasses the people in charge.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Polis granted Tina Peters clemency despite two unanimous advisory board votes against her application, according to the Sentinel’s report. That does not mean he lacked the authority. Governors can override advisory boards. It does mean the public is watching a high-profile case turn into a closed-door knife fight with better stationery.
- Former board members Azra Taslimi and Hannah Seigel Proff wrote publicly about the board’s votes and their disagreement with Polis. Polis then fired them, saying they violated confidentiality rules. The governor insists this was not about their criticism. Sure. And every toddler covered in frosting was simply “inspecting cake security.”
- Polis’ office says confidentiality protects victims, applicants, witnesses, and candid board deliberations. That is a serious point. Clemency is not supposed to be a group chat for political self-expression.
- Taslimi says they spoke out because the Peters decision raised questions about fairness and equal justice, and she argues the standard applied to Peters was not written down. That is also a serious point. Public trust gets thin fast when people think the rules are being invented in real time.
- The broader circus includes Peters, Trump, a clemency board, public disclosures, firings, rebukes, and Polis telling everyone the adults have it handled. Colorado officials love “public trust” as a phrase, but treat actual public trust like a reusable grocery bag they left in the back of a Subaru outside Whole Foods.
My Bottom Line
This is not a Tina Peters fan-club meeting. It is not an election-denial revival tent. The issue here is power, process, and trust.
Clemency is one of the most serious powers a governor has. It should be sober. It should be consistent. It should be confidential where confidentiality is required. And when the governor overrides unanimous board recommendations in a politically radioactive case, the public deserves more than institutional piety and a wagging finger about process.
At the same time, board members do not get to treat confidential deliberations like a personal op-ed kit just because the outcome makes them mad. If the confidentiality rule is real, it has to mean something. Otherwise the whole clemency process becomes another stage for political theater, and Colorado has plenty of that already. We are full up.
The problem is that Polis wants everyone to accept the tidy version: nothing to see here, just preserving process integrity. But firing members after they publicly rebuked him creates an obvious credibility problem, even if his explanation is technically correct. Timing matters. Optics matter. Trust matters. These people know that when they are lecturing everyone else.
And that is the insult. The ruling class produces a mess that looks like executive machinery being operated by people juggling chainsaws in a conference room, then acts shocked that the public smells smoke. Process matters. Confidentiality matters. So does not making Colorado government look like a political blender with the lid off.
Source: The Sentinel
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