Polis Corrupted His Office. Call Your Legislators.
The Colorado legislative session ended May 13th. Two days later, Governor Polis freed a convicted election saboteur — not because justice demanded it, but as a political transaction to relieve federal pressure on Colorado. Every Democrat in the legislature condemned it. But impeachment cannot happen until they return to session. The legislature won’t reconvene until January 2027, unless they call themselves back. Call your legislators and ask them to do exactly that.
Governor Polis Freed a Convicted Election Saboteur
On May 15, 2026, Governor Jared Polis commuted the sentence of Tina Peters — a former county clerk convicted of seven crimes, including four felonies, for sabotaging Colorado’s election systems — and ordered her released on parole June 1, after less than two years behind bars. The sentencing judge had called Peters “a danger to our community” whose crimes struck at the foundation of democracy itself.
“Every effort to undermine the integrity of our elections and public’s trust in our institutions has been made by you.”
— Judge Matthew Barrett, sentencing Tina Peters, October 2024
“Special treatment that ordinary defendants would never receive.”
— Mesa County DA Dan Rubinstein, the Republican prosecutor who convicted Peters, May 2026
What Peters Did
Tina Peters was the elected Mesa County Clerk and Recorder. In 2021, she secretly smuggled an associate of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell into a restricted software update of Mesa County’s Dominion voting machines, using a false identity to gain access. Confidential election system passwords were later posted publicly online. She was convicted in August 2024 on four felony and three misdemeanor charges and sentenced to 9 years in prison.
The judge was unsparing:
“You abdicated your position as a servant to the constitution and you chose you over all else.”
— Judge Barrett“You have no respect for the checks and balances of government. You have no respect for this court. You have no respect for law enforcement.”
— Judge Barrett“You are no hero. You’re a charlatan who used, and is still using, your prior position in office to peddle a snake oil that’s been proven to be junk time and time again.”
— Judge Barrett“Prison is where folks go where punishment is what we’re focused on, because the crime committed is so significant that anything less would unduly mitigate the seriousness of the same.”
— Judge Barrett, explaining why Peters must serve prison timeThe Corruption
Polis did not commute Tina Peters’ sentence because she had shown rehabilitation, or because the punishment was unjust, or because new evidence emerged. He commuted her sentence as a political transaction — trading her freedom for political relief. Clemency is meant to serve justice. Polis used it as a bargaining chip.
The context makes the transaction plain. The federal government had been systematically pressuring Colorado: withholding federal funds, canceling programs, denying disaster aid, dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research, relocating the U.S. Space Command to Alabama. Colorado was warned it was “suffering a big price.” Colorado’s Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold, Democratic legislators across the state, and the sentencing judge all urged Polis not to act. He did it anyway — the day after the legislative session ended, ensuring the legislature had no immediate recourse.
Using the power of clemency as currency in a political deal — rather than in the service of justice — is a corruption of executive power. It is malfeasance in office. It is grounds for impeachment. The legislature must come back from vacation and act on it.
Call Them Back from Vacation
The legislature went home until 2027. Under the Colorado Constitution, they can call themselves back — without the Governor — if two-thirds of each chamber agree.