Colorado governor fires two clemency board members who spoke out about Tina Peters’ commutation
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday fired two members of the state’s pardon board after they spoke out against his controversial decision to grant clemency to election denier Tina Peters, whose sentence was cut in half by the outgoing Democratic governor in May.
Azra Taslimi and Hannah Seigel Proff told CNN they were fired after speaking out publicly. New York Times An article in June in which they revealed confidential details about the pardon process and criticized the governor for overturning the board. They told the Times that the pardon board twice behind closed doors unanimously denied Peters’ application for early release from prison.
Police’s decision to release Peters in May came after President Donald Trump made a statement. long print campaign against Colorado to save him. Peters, who was released from prison in June, was the last Trump ally still in prison for crimes related to the 2020 election.
In a letter to CNN’s Taslimi and Proff, police said the two members had violated confidentiality by speaking openly.
“Specifically, you violated the duty of due confidentiality by publicly disclosing to the public the votes of the members of the Board on the application for amnesty, which you received only by virtue of your official position on this Board,” police wrote in their letter.
Two women told CNN they were disappointed but not surprised to be fired.
“I’m not sorry that she overrode our decision. I think the sad part is that we understand why she did it, so you know she had a strong ally behind her in Tina Peters,” Taslimi said. “Political pressure was applied on his behalf and the governor gave in to that and that’s what makes this unjust and that’s why I call it selective mercy because you’re giving him a benefit that you don’t give to others or apply to others.”
“Public disclosure of board recommendations and how members vote on any case threatens the board’s credibility, colors the board’s future deliberations, and violates the confidentiality policy clearly expressed in the Executive Order establishing this board,” Eric Maruyama, the governor’s spokesman, said in a statement to CNN on Wednesday.
Proff, who has served on the board for nearly eight years, said he understands state rules regarding the closed-door pardon recommendation process “as confidentiality, not to protect the governor, but to protect the people applying for pardons.”
Governor first of all right The decision to release Peters cited a Colorado appeals court decision that found the trial judge violated Peters’ First Amendment rights by improperly punishing him for his protected speech about the 2020 election.
“This was a simple decision because after reviewing the facts and reading the Court of Appeals decision, I concluded that his sentence was too long,” Polis wrote. Substack postWhere he condemns Peters’ crimes.
Now that they have been discontinued, Proff worries about reduced transparency.
“I worry that now that we have been removed from the board, people will be less likely to speak out and politicians will be left unchecked on such decisions,” Proff said.
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