Election denier issue creates Colorado political controversy

It's entirely possible — as hard as it may be to conceive in these deeply tribal, us-vs.-them times — for two competing notions to be true.

- Mark Z. Barabak, Tribune News Service

(Tina Peters)

Tina Peters personally enriched herself and betrayed the public trust by perpetrating a harebrained scheme to “prove” the 2020 election in Mesa County, Colorado, was rigged against President Donald Trump. The former county clerk and MAGA warrior deserved to go to jail. But the nine-year sentence she received was unduly harsh and, according to an appeals court decision, improperly meted out as punishment for the false and reckless public statements Peters made, a clear violation of her First Amendment rights. The court kicked the case back for resentencing.

That's when Colorado's Democratic governor, Jared Polis, stepped in. And stepped in it. Over the strenuous objection of fellow Democrats and many Republicans — including Peters’ prosecutor and a majority of Colorado's election clerks — Polis commuted her sentence, clearing the way for Peters’ parole on June 1 after less than two years in prison. Which just goes to show three wrongs don't make a right. Peters, 70, was convicted on multiple criminal counts, four of them felonies, for conspiring to let an unauthorised person access supposedly compromised voting equipment. She then lied to cover up her actions.