Colorado Governor Jared Polis dismissed two members of the state's executive clemency advisory board on Wednesday after they publicly condemned his decision to commute the prison sentence of election denier Tina Peters.
The dismissed board members, attorneys Hannah Seigel Proff and Azra Taslimi, revealed that the panel had twice voted unanimously to reject Peters' application for a shortened sentence before Polis overruled them in May.
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Polis, a Democrat, sent formal termination letters stating the women violated strict confidentiality rules by disclosing internal board actions to media outlets, including The New York Times and The Denver Post.
"You breached the required duty of confidentiality by publicly divulging Board members' votes pertaining to a clemency application which you obtained only through your official position on this Board," Polis wrote in the letters.
Taslimi said she anticipated the retaliation but criticized the governor's handling of the case. "I'm not upset that he overrode our decision.
I think what's upsetting is that we understand why he did it, which is that Tina Peters had a powerful ally behind her," she said.
Taslimi added that the decision reflected a broader systemic issue.
"She had political pressure applied in her name, and the governor capitulated to it, and that is what makes this unfair, and that is why I call it selective mercy," she said.
Proff noted that her understanding of confidentiality differed from the administration's.
"More as the confidentiality to protect the people who apply for clemency, not to protect the governor," she said.
