Folks, I’m sipping my coffee and reading about the latest drama in Colorado, where Governor Jared Polis just fired two members of the state’s clemency board, Azra Taslimi and Hannah Seigel Proff. Apparently, they spoke out against his decision to grant clemency to Tina Peters, an election denier whose sentence was cut in half by the outgoing Democratic governor in May. I mean, you can’t blame them for speaking out, but I guess that’s not how you keep your job on the clemency board.
So, it turns out that Taslimi and Proff told CNN they were fired after speaking out publicly, including in a New York Times article in June, where they revealed secret details about the clemency process and criticized the governor for overruling the board. They said the clemency board twice voted unanimously behind closed doors to reject Peters’ application for an early release from prison. I’m no expert, but it seems like the governor didn’t take kindly to their comments.
Now, I know some of you might be thinking, “What’s the big deal? It’s just politics as usual.” But the thing is, Peters was released from prison in June, and she was the last Trump ally still in prison for 2020 election-related crimes. That’s a pretty big deal, if you ask me. And it’s not like the governor’s decision was made in a vacuum – President Donald Trump had been waging a long pressure campaign against Colorado to free her.
In letters to Taslimi and Proff, Polis said they breached confidentiality by speaking out. He wrote, “Specifically, 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.” I guess that’s a fancy way of saying they shouldn’t have talked to the press.
Taslimi and Proff told CNN they’re disappointed but not surprised they were fired. Taslimi said, “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 you know Tina Peters had a powerful ally behind her.” She called it “selective mercy,” which is a pretty clever way of putting it.
The governor’s spokesperson, Eric Maruyama, said that publicly disclosing board recommendations and how members vote on any case threatens the credibility of the board and breaks clearly stated confidentiality policy. Proff, who served on the board for nearly eight years, said she understood the state rules around the closed-door clemency recommendation process “more as the confidentiality to protect the people who apply for clemency, not to protect the governor.” I think that’s a fair point, don’t you?
The governor primarily justified his decision to release Peters by citing a recent Colorado appeals court ruling that found the trial judge violated Peters’ First Amendment rights by improperly punishing her for her protected speech about the 2020 election. Polis wrote in a Substack post, “It was a straightforward decision because, after reviewing the facts, and reading the Appeals Court decision, I concluded that her sentence was simply too long.” He also condemned Peters’ crimes, which is interesting, given the circumstances.
Now that Taslimi and Proff have been terminated, Proff worries there will be less transparency. She said, “I worry now that we’ve been terminated from the board what comes of this is that people are less likely to speak out … that politicians will go unchecked on these sort of decisions.” I think that’s a valid concern, don’t you? It’s always a bad idea to silence people who are trying to do the right thing.
In conclusion, it’s been a wild ride in Colorado, folks. The governor fires two members of the clemency board for speaking out, and now we’re left wondering what’s going to happen next. I guess that’s just the way the cookie crumbles in politics. As I finish my coffee, I’m left thinking that maybe, just maybe, we should all be paying a little more attention to what’s going on in our government. After all, as the old saying goes, “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” And let’s be real, who doesn’t love a good scandal? 🙄
Armchair patriot. Believes in the free market, cold beer, and that there’s always a guy named George behind every CNN segment.
Former remote-throwing champion turned #1 couch commentator on liberal panic in the media. Born in Texas (or so his mug says), he earned a degree in Fake Newsology & Beer Philosophy from YouTube University.
