Governor Jared Polis has been widely and frequently criticized for his baffling decision in May to commute the sentence of former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters. Yet in the days and weeks following the commutation, Polis has spent way too much of his time furiously digging himself a deeper hole. This week, Polis hit a new bottom.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis fired two members of his clemency advisory board Wednesday for publicly speaking against his decision to free Tina Peters after she was convicted of election-related crimes, his office confirmed to The Denver Post.
Polis removed Hannah Seigel Proff and Azra Taslimi from the advisory board because they “breached the required duty of confidentiality by publicly divulging board members’ votes,” according to letters from Polis reported Wednesday afternoon by the New York Times, which was first to break the news…
…In mid-June, Seigel Proff and Taslimi, two attorneys on the clemency advisory board, spoke to the media and wrote an opinion piece for The Post questioning Polis’ decision. They wrote that the board unanimously voted twice to recommend denial of clemency for Peters. While Polis ignored the board and freed Peters early, they wrote, he also had a history of ignoring their recommendations to grant clemency to other applicants.
“The problem is not about Tina Peters’ case in isolation,” Siegel Proff and Taslimi wrote. “It is what his decision reveals. That the system bends for some and holds firm against everyone else.”
Speaking out about Polis’ clemency decision was apparently a step too far for the Governor:
The governor’s office quietly announced Wednesday that, among other appointments, he had appointed two new members to fill newly vacant seats on the Executive Clemency Advisory Board. In a statement Wednesday evening, Polis spokesperson Eric Maruyama wrote that the clemency process requires “thoughtful review, unbiased consideration, and the utmost confidentiality for the applicants.”…
…“Publicly disclosing board recommendations and how members vote on any case threatens the credibility of the board, colors future deliberations by the board, and breaks clearly stated confidentiality policy articulated in the Executive Order which establishes this board,” Maruyama wrote. “Applicants going forward can expect the full confidentiality promised in the Executive Order.”
Mask off
Hannah Seigel Proff and Azra Taslimi probably did violate the “letter of the law” for the Executive Clemency Advisory Board when they publicly discussed Peters’ case. Of course, you could say the same thing about Polis himself.
Peters was serving a nine year prison sentence after being convicted by a jury of her peers in her home county of Mesa. Polis granted Peters an early release based on his own belief that she was sentenced too harshly. In Polis’ view, her sentence was a special case that deserved special attention. It’s not hard to argue that Seigel Proff and Taslimi spoke out because of the special nature of the same case.
Whether or not Polis had the right to dismiss Seigel Proff and Taslimi is not the question here — just as nobody was arguing in May that Polis had the right to grant clemency to Peters. The real issue, in both cases, is about whether Polis should have made either decision. Booting two advisors who publicly disagreed with a decision is straight out of the Donald Trump playbook.
Peters, meanwhile, has been busy burying Polis as fast as he can dig his own hole.
Tina Peters is fully recovered from her brief bout of remorse and back to doing what she loves: sharing unsubstantiated claims of election rigging with Colorado Republicans.
@marshallglasses.bsky.social tried to speak with Peters today at a MAGA festival called Freedom Fest.
On Monday, Peters popped up in the Oval Office to thank President Trump for freeing her from prison.
In short, Peters is doing exactly what every critic of Polis’s clemency decision warned she would do. There is no remorse from Peters, and she has every intention of continuing to travel around spreading her gospel of unsubstantiated election fraud.
What does Polis think about all of this? According to Polis spokesperson Eric Maruyama:
“The Governor is focused on protecting Colorado communities and responding to the five state responsibility fires currently burning in our state, not who visits the Oval Office.”
Nothing to see here! Move along!
Polis seems to be embracing his pariah status among Democrats Coloradans while he concludes his second term in office as the lamest of ducks. If we worked for Polis in a political, policy, or legal role, we’d be giving serious thought to whether finishing six more months on the job is worth becoming professionally radioactive come January 2027.
July 02, 2026 01:11 PM UTC
Governor Jared Polis has been widely and frequently criticized for his baffling decision in May to 
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