Thanks for the details & chronology. But we still don't know why Gov Polis provided pre-emptive clemency to Tina Peters. Trump already punished Colorado by withholding allocated funds, relocating Space Force, closing NCAR, etc. Can those retaliatory actions by Trump be reversed because Polis granted Peters clemency?
While I believe some actions in the litany to be Peters-related (the veto of the water project that had received unanimous Senate and House approval clearly was, although punishment there may have at least in part have been directed at Rep. Boebert for having pushed the Epstein Files discharge petition across the finish line), others appear not to be. Closer inspection suggests that the dismantlement of NCAR has nothing to do with Peters (it is part of a broader ideological project; see a May 7 Union of Concerned Scientists blog post titled “Documents Show Real Reason Why the White House Wants to Break Up NCAR”). Denial of disaster relief to a blue state fits a pattern that has nothing to do with Peters.
Whether or not past actions that are unfavorable to Colorado might be reversed is a question independent of the calculation one might have made that were Colorado to “play ball” on Peters the state might escape future “harsh measures” (per the threat that the president made in August 2025).
It is surely possible that Polis is truthful and accurate when he says that pressure from the White House with respect to Colorado had nothing to do with his decision. In the essay I did not commit to a theory of his motivation. I merely stated that I found the idea that he drew motivation from concern for Colorado to be “more plausible than some of the alternatives one sees in angry denunciations of him on social media.” Those alternatives include speculation that Polis is being blackmailed personally and that he is angling from some personal benefit.
It is also possible, as Eric Sondermann has suggested, that Polis is operating here out of ego (see an essay of his that The Gazette published on May 26 titled “A mistaken commutation and an over-the-top reaction.” Were Sondermann to publish a version of this essay on his Substack, I would address him about all of this there.
Excellent!
Thanks for this post
Thanks for the details & chronology. But we still don't know why Gov Polis provided pre-emptive clemency to Tina Peters. Trump already punished Colorado by withholding allocated funds, relocating Space Force, closing NCAR, etc. Can those retaliatory actions by Trump be reversed because Polis granted Peters clemency?
You posed an interesting question!
Consider these observations:
While I believe some actions in the litany to be Peters-related (the veto of the water project that had received unanimous Senate and House approval clearly was, although punishment there may have at least in part have been directed at Rep. Boebert for having pushed the Epstein Files discharge petition across the finish line), others appear not to be. Closer inspection suggests that the dismantlement of NCAR has nothing to do with Peters (it is part of a broader ideological project; see a May 7 Union of Concerned Scientists blog post titled “Documents Show Real Reason Why the White House Wants to Break Up NCAR”). Denial of disaster relief to a blue state fits a pattern that has nothing to do with Peters.
Whether or not past actions that are unfavorable to Colorado might be reversed is a question independent of the calculation one might have made that were Colorado to “play ball” on Peters the state might escape future “harsh measures” (per the threat that the president made in August 2025).
It is surely possible that Polis is truthful and accurate when he says that pressure from the White House with respect to Colorado had nothing to do with his decision. In the essay I did not commit to a theory of his motivation. I merely stated that I found the idea that he drew motivation from concern for Colorado to be “more plausible than some of the alternatives one sees in angry denunciations of him on social media.” Those alternatives include speculation that Polis is being blackmailed personally and that he is angling from some personal benefit.
It is also possible, as Eric Sondermann has suggested, that Polis is operating here out of ego (see an essay of his that The Gazette published on May 26 titled “A mistaken commutation and an over-the-top reaction.” Were Sondermann to publish a version of this essay on his Substack, I would address him about all of this there.