DENVER — Just a week after Democrats censured Gov. Jared Polis for granting Tina Peters clemency, the governor appeared during a party Zoom meeting on Wednesday with tape over his mouth.
The governor’s stunt during an internal party briefing was seemingly a reaction to last week’s 89.8% censure vote by the Democratic Party’s central committee, of which he is a member.
The images were submitted to the Scripps News Group by anonymous sources. We have reached out to the governor’s office for a comment and are awaiting a response.
The committee’s decision was in response to a petition signed by hundreds of Colorado Democrats, calling for a formal censure vote.
Last Wednesday’s motion, read by DNC member Stephanie Beal, said the committee found that Polis' decision to grant clemency to Peters "materially harmed the Colorado Democratic Party's institutional credibility and efforts to defend Democratic institutions and election integrity."
The censure bars the governor from participating as an honored guest, featured speaker, or official representative of the Colorado Democratic Party at party-sponsored events, including the Obama Gala and DemFest.
The term-limited Polis commuted Peters’ prison sentence on May 15, after pressure from President Donald Trump.
The 70-year-old former Mesa County clerk was sentenced to nine years for a scheme to copy the county’s election system.
The governor says he made his decision based on the facts and on what he believed was right — even if unpopular.
“The Governor made this decision based on the facts of the case and what he believed was the right thing to do. Sometimes the right thing isn’t the popular thing with everybody," a spokesperson for the governor's office said in a statement. "Democracy is strongest when disagreement is met with debate and dialogue, not censorship.”
Peters gets released on Monday.
