This column was published as a pro-con about clemency for Tina Peters. Read the other side of the issue here.

Stockholm Syndrome? Maybe that explains Gov. Jared Polis’ willingness to bow to the man who has held our state hostage.

For more than a year, Colorado has been the target of President Donald Trump’s abuse. Leaving Polis off the guest list of a recent governors’ dinner at the White House was the latest slap in the face of many that include rescinded federal grants, a vetoed water bill, rejected disaster fund requests, and the loss of two federal agencies.

Our tormentor is angry the state chose Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 and has not met his demands to stop mail-in voting and release his supporter and fellow election denier Tina Peters from prison.

Polis seemed to be bearing up okay under the strain until this week, when he inexplicably signaled that he might grant Peters clemency. The former county clerk is serving nine years for illegally granting a fellow election conspiracy theorist access to voting equipment to advance Trump’s false narrative about the 2020 election. Her failed scheme to discredit the county’s voting equipment violated multiple laws and cost Mesa County taxpayers $1.4 million. This figure does not reflect the human toll of her crimes. Election officials received death threats, and her lies continue to undermine faith in democratic processes to this day.

Polis’ attempt to compare Peters’ nine year sentence to the lighter sentence of probation and community service received by former Colorado state Sen. Jaquez Lewis does not add up. She treated her aides poorly, and when caught attempted to influence members of the Senate Ethics Committee with fake letters of support.

Peters received a tougher sentence within the sentencing guidelines because her crimes and their impact were far worse.

Matt Crane, the head of Colorado’s bipartisan County Clerks Association, told me that the symbolism behind a pardon is dangerous.

“If Polis grants Peters clemency, that would signal that it’s okay for people to undermine election integrity and break the law so long as Polis and Trump can issue a get out of jail free card. Rather than worry about appeasing the president by siding with a convicted felon, Polis should stand with election officials who uphold the law and conduct reliable elections for the people of Colorado,” Crane said.

Peters’ sentence also reflects her complete lack of remorse and contempt for the law. On Twitter, she calls herself the “Fmr Election Official Whistleblower with 7 Felonies and 5 misdemeanors for exposing the traitors of our country” and either she or someone connected to her continues to post lies about elections. Freed, she will no doubt claim exoneration and will continue to undermine confidence in American democracy as we head into an election.

A blue wave of disaffected voters will pulverize the seawall of Republican hegemony in Washington this November, and MAGA will be desperate to blame losses on nonexistent voter fraud. Sowing doubt in our election systems and division among Americans will be all the easier for election conspiracy theorists with a celebrity denier in their midst.

Better to let Peters serve her sentence until she is up for parole in 2028. Perhaps she can manufacture some remorse before the parole board and walk out a free woman.

Until then, Polis must remain steadfast in upholding justice. Trump has granted clemency to all manner of criminals from violent January 6 rioters to corrupt politicians and fraudulent businessmen. No matter how much pressure he puts on our state, we must hold out against his demands.

Krista Kafer is a Sunday Denver Post columnist.

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