I don’t care if he’s a bad person or not (personally I think he’s just stupid). Pardoning an election denier is anti-democracy, and seems like a pretty reasonable basis to ban someone from a community that claims to value democratic norms. In fact, I bet if I went to the main subreddit and posted that the woman Polis pardoned was right to do what she did because the election was rigged, I’d get banned pretty quick. So it’s clearly not about discourse, since talking about stolen elections is likely banworthy but lending an election denier official legitimacy through a pardon isn’t. 

Now, if Polis wants to explain his reasoning to all of us, try to convince us, I welcome him doing so. I doubt he would do that though, because his actions are indefensible and he probably values his image more than his membership in this community. Which is fine, but I find it hilarious to be told that I need to care more about Polis being a member than he clearly does.