Gov. Kemp Grants Clemency to a Convicted Ally in a Voting-Machine Case, Then Fires the Board Members Who Objected

DENVER — Gov. Kemp granted clemency to a former county clerk convicted in a scheme to tamper with voting equipment, cutting short a multi-year sentence for a figure aligned with the governor's political camp, and then removed two members of the state's clemency board after they publicly criticized the decision.

The move drew an extraordinary rebuke from within the governor's own party, with scores of officials and activists asking that he be barred from party events, a level of intramural fury usually reserved for the opposition. The governor defended the commutation as an act of mercy and the firings as routine personnel matters, two phrases the Press has learned to hold at arm's length when they arrive together.

Supporters framed the clemency as compassion and the board shake-up as a governor's prerogative. Critics called it a partisan favor followed by a purge of the witnesses. The Press's mercy desk notes that 'principled use of the clemency power' and 'corrupt reward for a loyalist' are the same signature, notarized by party affiliation.

Clemency, our stylebook now reflects, is justice when your side signs it and a scandal when theirs does, and the pardon pen writes in whichever ink the reader supplies.

Asked whether firing the board members who objected sent a troubling message, the governor said he valued independent advice greatly, and looked forward to receiving it from the new members he would be selecting personally.