Colorado Gov. Jared Polis undoubtedly took stock of the uproar these past few days over the newest fist-pumping radical to land a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives. And then Polis probably reached for his aspirin.

It wasn’t just because rookie Denver Democratic state Rep. Tim Hernández was waving a Palestinian flag at the State Capitol last weekend – while Polis and the rest of the state mourned the mass murder of Israeli civilians and children by the terrorist psychopaths of Hamas.

The governor’s headache also was induced by his dread for what lies ahead. Just around the corner, in January, awaits another legislative session sure to be hijacked as a platform for yet another noisy newcomer from the political fringe. The state House’s veto-proof Democratic majority will have to make more room for its growing radical wing, and the House’s legislative agenda is sure to be peppered with more crackpot proposals from the hard left.

Among the most problematic will be those that – amid an epic crime wave – seek to further erode law and order in Colorado in the name of “equity” and “justice reform.” Meaning, more attempts to ease bail, shorten parole, reduce penalties – i.e., to undermine real justice.

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Polis knows all this, and he also knows it doesn’t bode well – neither for sound public policy nor for his own presidential ambitions. Which is why the governor’s anticipated executive order this week establishing a new panel on law and order couldn’t have come at a better time.

As reported in Colorado Politics, the governor created the Working Group on Transforming Criminal and Juvenile Justice. Its marching orders are to study evidence-based best practices, conduct outreach and develop a recommendation by March 1 on forming an entity or entities to replace the now-defunct Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice.

The commission, which included assorted representatives of Colorado’s justice system – prosecutors, law enforcement, judges, criminal defense attorneys, etc. – had been charged with previewing proposed legislation on crime and related matters. As often as not, it injected reason into the lawmaking process and at times backburnered some of the loopier legislation.

Until last spring, that is. That’s when “justice reform” Democrats in charge of the House Judiciary Committee voted at the eleventh hour to kill the commission, when no one was looking. The Judiciary Committee majority apparently viewed the commission as a hurdle to their more outlandish justice-reform bills.

In a letter last June accompanying his veto of one such bill – it would have supported further drug decriminalization – Polis pointed out to lawmakers that the commission they killed could have improved, or headed off, similarly deficient legislation in the future. And he promised in his letter, “Shortly I will be taking executive action to continue some of the work of the CCJJ…”

He made good on that pledge with his executive order on Monday. Whether or not it bears fruit down the line through better legislation, it has immediate value up front. It serves not only as a jab at his own ruling party’s reckless fanatics but also – let’s hope – as a warning shot to them to back down.

Coloradans are fed up with crime. And they are fed up with a system that coddles criminals. Colorado’s dubious distinction as a leader among the states for wide-ranging offenses – from auto thefts to fentanyl overdoses – isn’t just humiliating. It’s menacing. And too often, deadly.

We’d guess Polis is fed up, too. Not only with wannabe revolutionaries who take the Legislature by storm – but even more, with the damage they do to our state.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board