The Colorado Democratic Party State Central Committee voted overwhelmingly to censure Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday, formally rebuking him for commuting the sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters.
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 89.8% vote came after more than 700 Colorado Democrats signed on to a complaint submitted Monday, calling for their party to formally censure the governor.
The 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."
"Reducing her sentence now under pressure from Donald Trump is not justice," said Beal, reading the statement at the meeting. "It sends a message to future bad actors that elected pampering has consequences, unless you're friends with the president. That's a dangerous and disappointing precedent to set."
The 70-year-old former clerk Peters was originally sentenced to nine years in October 2024 for her role in an elections security breach.
Polis commuted Peters’ prison sentence on Friday after pressure from President Donald Trump and following a Colorado Court of Appeals ruling in April that Peters should be resentenced by the district court. Peters is set to be released June 1.
“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.”
Ian Coggins, a local Democratic captain, started the censure effort.
"We're going to take institutional action to try and ensure it doesn't happen again," he said in an interview with Scripps News Denver.
Nearly all of those who spoke at Wednesday's meeting spoke in favor of the censure.
"Gov. Polis gave into America's biggest bully, and giving into bullies never works, plain and simple," said Jordan Letschert during the comment period Wednesday.
Congressman Jason Crow, D-CO, also voiced his support for the censure in a statement read ahead of the vote.
“The Democratic Party must fight for democracy and the rule of law. We must be consistent, courageous, resolute, and willing to call out our own when they fall short," the statement said. “Governor Polis’ decision to commute Tina Peters’ sentence was wrong and has undermined efforts to protect our elections."
Ann la Plante, a criminal defense attorney, spoke in opposition to the censure Wednesday.
"I believe that Tina Peters was way too harshly sentenced," she said. "I believe he should have made the sentence run at the same time concurrent, as they call it. And so I believe the governor made a brave decision, unpopular as it is."
Others believe the censure isn't enough.
"The General Assembly should reconvene to investigate and hold him accountable," said David Seligman, candidate for Colorado Attorney General, in a statement after the vote. "And if he commuted Tina Peters' sentence at the behest of Donald Trump, surrendering the sovereign authority of Colorado, he should be impeached. We have to be done with performative politics and wield the tools of public power for real accountability for abuses of power."
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