Just before Christmas, Gov. Jared Polis pardoned 21 duly convicted felons and ended early the sentences of seven others. Though I disagree with several of the cases – brace yourselves – I agree with Polis’s annual exercise of his constitutional clemency powers.

Section 7 of Article 4 of our Colorado Constitution provides broad discretion to the governor to “grant reprieves, commutations and pardons after conviction, for all offenses except treason….” It is an indispensable tool for justice in appropriate and attenuated cases with convicted felons who have earned clemency. It is also the fail-safe or last chance for cases that have run out of appellate runway, and yet circumstances compel a lesser sentence or no conviction at all.

I applaud Polis’s willingness to use his constitutional powers in this area throughout his time in office, instead of waiting until the end of his term, when the political ramifications for such a decision are de minimus. That takes political guts we have not seen from governors throughout the U.S., whether they be Republicans or Democrats. Polis’s predecessor, U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, allowed a long-standing committee to make recommendations regarding clemency to lapse into non-existence. Polis brought it back.

Stay up to speed: Sign up for daily opinion in your inbox Monday-Friday

Though Polis’s willingness to use this broad and nearly unchecked power is to be commended, how he uses it, well, is another thing entirely.

Whoever is advising Polis on which cases to grant clemency does not have meaningful experience with the criminal justice system; does not read the information provided to Polis by law enforcement and victims; has a sense of “justice” that is simply inconsistent with public safety and common sense – or all of the above.

The resource-strapped mainstream media do not have the ability or will to chase down the individual cases to scrutinize Polis’s decision-making. Likewise, Polis’s office has steadfastly refused to reveal who – cough, cough, Kardashian – has input on the decision to grant clemency. We deserve a closer look at them. Here are only two of the 28 cases Polis blessed with clemency:

Bradley Erickson is a career criminal who brazenly perpetrated dozens of burglaries throughout the metro area, many of which occurred during the daytime. Before his Polis-shortened prison sentence, Erickson had been incarcerated previously – for a burglary case. He was paroled. And then committed another burglary. Back to prison. Paroled again. Then, he perpetrated acts of domestic violence and stole a car. Erickson was incarcerated again for possessing a weapon as a previously convicted felon. And he was convicted of escape. Each of these convictions took place before he was charged with 77 felony counts listing 33 separate victims for his dozens of metro-area burglaries.

In his letter informing Erickson of the reduction of his sentence by 75%, Polis claimed the sentence “was well beyond the typical range” for his crimes. Whoever is advising Polis is misleading him. The “typical range” for a career residential burglar with multiple convictions, dozens of victims, and repeated failures at rehabilitation and parole is multiple decades in prison. Meanwhile, the prosecutor handling Erickson’s latest case showed mercy in not pursuing habitual criminal and organized-crime convictions against Erickson. Polis knew this and still cut this career burglar a significantly diminished sentence.

Remember Polis made the same outlandish and unsupportable comment about the sentence earned by Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, the truck driver convicted of killing four innocent people and burning up numerous others on Interstate 70 in Lakewood. Likely relying on the same ill-informed advisors in his inner circle, Polis reduced the killer’s sentence to a mere 10 years, parole-eligible in fewer than four. Polis’s decision will result in less than a year incarceration for each of the lives he took by burning them to death. That does not even account for those he set on fire who lived.

Again, this reflects not only upon Polis for the decisions he makes, but also upon his hand-picked team that provides him advice on those decisions. I presume it is the same team that recommended the Feliz Navidad hostage-dance video Polis launched a couple days ago as 16 buses of immigrants were dumped off in Denver.

The governor’s clemency powers are powerful and necessary to our system of justice and public safety, but they must be wielded by someone who is either appropriately experienced or appropriately advised by those with experience. Thus far, Colorado has seen neither from Polis. We can do better.

It is unknown if Polis was contacted by Kim Kardashian for advice on these latest clemency decisions.

George Brauchler is the former district attorney for the 18th Judicial District. He also is an Owens Early Criminal Justice Fellow at the Common Sense Institute. He hosts “The George Brauchler Show” on 710KNUS Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Follow him on Twitter(X): @GeorgeBrauchler.