It seemed an itch that Gov. Jared Polis just had to scratch. After months of hints and speculation, Polis put his signature on a commutation of the prison sentence of Colorado’s election-denying queen, former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters.

True, Peters’s break was one of 44 commutations and pardons announced en masse by Polis late on a Friday afternoon. If his intent was to bury the story, consider that a mission failure. Few Coloradans cared all that much about the fate of Louise Almanzan, Kristin Robledo, or a few dozen other inmates, current or past.

Peters, on the other hand, had made herself a national symbol as the country continues to divisively process the shame of January 6^th.

As of this writing, Polis has 238 days left in office. The percentage of Coloradans who will be sad to see him depart is shrinking in real time. In a way, the Peters commutation seems an appropriate capstone to Polis’s reign. It exhibited all of his too-cute-by-half mercurial bent, the forced displays of occasional independence and the ill-timed libertarianism (see RFK, Jr.).

Most of all, it vividly displayed a certain smart-guy-in-the-room pretense and a superior virtue lacking in other mere mortals.

Where many other Colorado governors gained affection, Polis more often commanded respect. Warmth is in short supply around him. He’s always come across as a guy with plenty of associates and no shortage of supplicants, but with a relative dearth of real friends.

Much of this goes hand in hand with how Polis built his political career. Where others see offices to be won, Polis eyes prizes to be purchased. It started with his writing a check for one million dollars to secure a seat on the lowly State Board of Education.

After using his bankroll to procure a congressional seat, Polis threw his wallet into the gubernatorial ring and spent upwards of $25 million to buy the state’s top office.

Having invested that kind of cash, Polis was not going to be shortchanged. He fully grabbed the levers of authority, asserting himself and often swinging his elbows even among allied Democratic legislators. During the pandemic, he exercised powers few of his predecessors would have recognized.

One often got the impression that the Guv was toying with us common folk. Recall the flurry of press releases with endless, breathless subject lines about “saving people money” on this and that. Even as it is now hard to square with recent rankings showing Colorado as the third least affordable state to live in.

Since the commutation announcement, some has remarked that this will be the defining moment of Polis’s second term. They must forget the fiasco of wolves and the vaunted, sesquicentennial bridge to nowhere.

Peters will walk free in early June thanks to Polis’s beneficence. Do not be fooled by any half-hearted contrition on her part. She can be expected to quickly reclaim the banner of election fraud and become a bigger celebrity among that discredited crowd.

As to Polis’s motives, I do not regard this as a political decision. There is no calculation that would lead him to this conclusion. Nor do I buy into whispers that he cut some deal with the White House.

Though if you suddenly see our governor’s visage on the back side of a newly minted Trump coin, you will know I was wrong.

While such action has been on Polis’s mind for a while, the Colorado Court of Appeals took him off the hook by ordering that Peters be resentenced to a reduced term. But Polis had convinced himself that there was a miscarriage of justice that only he could fix. 

It is all very much in keeping with the “I alone” high-horse haughtiness that has been a hallmark of his eight years.

All that said, the reaction of many on the left in the aftermath of Polis’s announcement has been equally telling. This applies across the board to top elected Democrats, aspiring candidates and lesser-known online voices.

Diana DeGette challenger Melat Kiros went so far as to call for the impeachment of Polis. Criticize the decision all you want. But what possible grounds exist for impeachment of a duly-elected official operating fully within his Constitutional prerogatives?

The State Democratic Party has censured its titular leader. He is officially disinvited from a speaking role at party events. Lovely. Are its members more righteous now for having cast that vote? What happened to just the proverbial strongly-worded letter or social media takedown?

Michael Bennet went even further in “disqualifying” Polis from consideration for appointment to his Senate seat should Bennet win the governor’s office. To my knowledge, Polis is the only person to be so publicly eliminated. For all we know, Elisabeth Epps, Steve Lebsock, Lindsey Halligan and Ted Haggard could still be in the running.

Democrats are going down the path of Republicans here and elsewhere who have shown no deviation from total Trump loyalty. Any GOP legislator who displayed the slightest bit of independent judgment was subject to party censure.

Our sad reality is that Trump has become the axis around which all politics revolve. Republicans are purged for anything short of complete allegiance. But Democrats have become equally unaccepting of anything but absolute, unconditional opposition. As the American divide further calcifies.

Eric Sondermann is a Colorado-based independent political commentator. He writes regularly for Colorado Politics and The Gazette. Reach him at EWS@EricSondermann.com; follow him at @EricSondermann