This is a guest column that I hope many from the Pikes Peak Region read, but particularly Michael Allen, the El Paso County district attorney.

As you may know, D.A. Allen convened a secret grand jury, urging them to charge state Sen. Pete Lee with a felony for voting from the wrong residence.

We now know that they were given inaccurate information (Gazette article Sept. 21, 2022), and yet D.A. Allen, is still unwilling to revisit this travesty of justice. His actions appear to me and many others to be motivated by partisan politics and possibly revenge — both tools that should never be used for a felony indictment.

The underlying issue is the common practice of elected officials changing residences when district lines are redrawn by redistricting commissions every 10 years, and a voter residence law that is vague and unclear — with so many loopholes you could drive a truck through it. This happened all over the state after districts lines were redrawn last year. According to public and news reports, candidates who changed residence registrations because of redistricting or for other reasons, include Reps. Kyle Mullica, Tracey Bernett, Matt Soper, Hugh McKean, Donald Valdez, Sen. Robert Rankin and locally, Rep. Kit Roupe and Sens. Owen Hill, Dennis Hisey and Pete Lee.

I know, this is quite a list. And I am not suggesting that there is anything illegal here. The fact that so many have done it and that it is such a common practice, suggests that it is believed to be legal. But the fact that 10 people have done it and only one, Senator Lee has been charged with a felony, means it is a vague law hardly applied uniformly. Vague and unclear laws leave too much discretion in the hands of partisan prosecutors.

As mentioned above, recently, Sen. Dennis Hisey has been accused of the same conduct. Has D.A. Allen charged him with a felony? No. Has he convened a grand jury? No. Do myself and others think that he will do anything before this November’s election? No. Hisey’s a Republican like D.A. Allen and a felony could hurt him in his race against Tony Exum, or maybe disqualify him from continuing his race altogether.

Now I want to be clear: I don’t think that Dennis should be charged with a felony. I personally have great respect for Dennis. But I also don’t think Pete should be charged with a felony, either.

Senator Lee has led efforts for years for justice reform, humane sentencing, restorative justice and early release from prison for non-violent offenders. It is no secret from the Gazette’s editorial page to conversations I have heard in Council chambers, that many mistakenly blame Pete Lee for a rising crime rate. So could Senator Lee being the only one to ever be charged with a felony, be an accident? Doesn’t appear so to me.

D.A. Allen, drop the felony charge against Senator Lee and please don’t charge Dennis Hisey, either. Instead, lead the fight to clarify Colorado’s voting residence law; work with local legislators to craft a clear law that tells elected officials what the rules are for residence and voting. Remove the uncertainty and clarify the rules so everyone is treated the same under the law regardless of party or political views.

Senator and Representative Lee has done so many good things in his tenure at the Legislature that I can’t even begin to list. He has been dedicated to his districts and his city for years. He has given up a good lawyer’s income, spending the equivalent of months of his life stuck in I-25 traffic, living out of suitcase and being away from his family. And now he has to spend his hard-earned money on lawyers to clear his name for an alleged crime that no one, I repeat no one, has ever been charged with a felony for, before Pete.

Yes, disagree with his work on justice and prison reform. But give him some peace in his retirement.

Entrepreneur and small-business owner Richard Skorman served on Colorado Springs City Council from 1999 to 2007 and 2017 to 2021 and as Colorado Springs vice mayor.

Richard Skorman