Colorado governor target of censure after Peters pardon, protesters say ‘Impeach Polis!’

Denver, CO – On Sunday, May 24, members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) and Aurora Unidos Community Service Organization (AUCSO) organized a picket at Governors Park to demand that Governor Jared Polis be impeached for his commutation of Tina Peters’ sentence.

Peters is an election denier who tampered with voting machines under her control in an attempt to show the 2020 U.S. presidential election was rigged against Trump. She was convicted on seven charges of engaging in a security breach to advance this false conspiracy theory of election fraud.

On May 15, Governor Polis, a Democrat, commuted Peters’ sentence after months of pressure from Trump. Peters, who was slated to serve nine years in prison, will instead be released on June 1 of this year.

During the picket, which called for the impeachment of Polis ahead of the end of his second term, passersby seemed to support the message. Members of the community cheered and honked as they passed the crowd at Governors Park.

A speaker from FRSO, Bailey Heaton, detailed instances of Polis refusing to stand up for the people of Colorado. According to Heaton, Polis “can’t stand any pressure. He is a coward!” Heaton pointed out in his speech that Polis gave the controversial surveillance group Flock access to information about undocumented immigrants, defunded Colorado’s education system, and vetoed several bills that would help workers unionize their workplaces.

Many believe Polis’ true legacy will lie in his pardoning of Peters, however, whose sentence the governor called “extremely unusual and lengthy.” Colorado Democrats have since censured Polis over the decision.

Alex Riedle of AUCSO voiced how Polis, oft-cited as one of the top five wealthiest members of Congress, where he served for ten years, has chosen profit over the people of Colorado. Riedle brought up how Polis welcomed Palantir into the state, despite that company’s development of tracking technology that aids ICE in the kidnapping and deportation of immigrants.

Riedle stated, “There are hundreds of cases of far greater importance that should be reviewed and considered before the case of Tina Peters, but this is further proof that the closer you align to the capitalist class, the more likely you are to avoid accountability.”

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