Update: as of Saturday noon, Mitchell has apparently taken down the posts attacking Lontine. 

Senate Democrats Friday afternoon called out former state Sen. Shawn Mitchell, a Broomfield Republican, for posting “vile” comments on Facebook regarding Democratic Rep. Susan Lontine of Denver.

Lontine on Thursday went public with a complaint of sexual harassment against Republican Sen. Larry Crowder of Alamosa. The incidents, which were found credible by a third-party investigator, took place in 2015 and 2017. Crowder apologized in a closed-door meeting Monday, but Lontine said,  “Sen. Crowder expressed little remorse and he didn’t take responsibility for his actions. Fearing my continued silence would enable attempts to gloss over this serious issue, I have chosen to speak up because the public needs to know.”

Friday afternoon, Mitchell, who has a habit of posting inflammatory remarks on Facebook, posted the following.

He posted a second comment about Lontine shortly after that was in a similar vein.

Senate Democrats tweeted almost immediately that “this is an unacceptable response to sexual harassment. Here is former GOP State Senator Shawn Mitchell on Facebook proving there’s no bar too low.”

Mitchell has his own history of inappropriate remarks about women. In 2009, he told a nervous witness in a committee hearing that “I relieve that by imagining the chairwoman in her underwear.”

The committee chair was Democratic Sen. Morgan Carroll of Aurora. Mitchell later apologized, calling his remarks inappropriate and unprofessional.

Lontine declined to comment.

Crowder is the fifth lawmaker and third in the Senate to be charged with sexual harassment or sexual misconduct. A complaint against Sen. Randy Baumgardner of Hot Sulphur Springs was reportedly deemed credible by the same outside investigators at the Employees’ Council. An investigation is ongoing on complaints against Republican Sen. Jack Tate of Centennial and Democratic Rep. Steve Lebsock of Thornton. The investigation on Democratic Rep. Paul Rosenthal of Denver was closed by Speaker of the House Crisanta Duran of Denver, who said the incident in question happened before Rosenthal was a lawmaker and hence outside of the General Assembly’s jurisdiction. Lebsock was stripped of his committee chair on Local Government; Rosenthal was removed as vice-chair of the same committee.

Senate President Kevin Grantham of Cañon City has not disclosed whether he intends to mete out any consequences for Baumgardner, who is chair of both the Senate Transportation Committee and the Capital Development Committee. Baumgardner is also sponsoring the top priority bill of Senate Republicans in the 2018 session, Senate Bill 1, on transportation funding.

Senate Democrats Thursday called on Baumgardner to resign, and Senate Minority Leader Lucia Guzman said she would not participate in any deliberations on Baumgardner’s punishment, if any.