Colorado Democratic Party censures Gov. Jared Polis after he commutes Tina Peters' sentence [View all]

Source: CBS News

Updated on: May 20, 2026 / 10:18 PM MDT


The central committee of the Colorado Democratic Party on Wednesday voted 89.8% in favor of a measure to censure Gov. Jared Polis. A censure temporarily bars him from speaking or participating in party-sponsored events. Polis said earlier that the petition by hundreds of Democrats that called for the action is politically motivated. The petition is in response to Polis' decision to commute the sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters.

The judge gave her nearly 9 years for her role in tampering with election equipment to prove unsubstantiated claims of fraud. Polis cut the sentence in half. Peters could be paroled as early as June 1. "My goal is to make the right decision with the information I have and that's exactly what I did in this case," Polis said. "I think the fact this has seemingly become so partisan shows the problem with this case, frankly. No case should be viewed from a partisan lens. Each case is about an individual and the crime they committed."

The governor says he looked at other cases of corruption by public officials and none of them had sentences as steep as Peters. "In nearly every case we saw probation, we saw 6 months," he said. Peters' sentence, he says, was based too much on what she said rather than what she did. The appellate court raised the same concern. "Clearly, her free speech -- however much we disagree with it -- was used as a factor in that sentencing," Polis said.

Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubenstein disagrees. "This was not just a one act. This was a months-long pattern of deception to try to violate every security protocol we had as the person we entrusted specifically for that," he said. Rubenstein says Peters could have received 20 years. He notes even Polis's own clemency board recommended against commutation.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/jared-polis-censure-colorado-democratic-party/