November 05, 2009 04:07 AM UTC

Sen. Shawn Mitchell: The Wonder Years

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• by: Colorado Pols

The thing about the modern, socially networked, Google-preserved Internet is that sometimes things pop up in it that you’d just as soon leave in the land of undocumented youthful indiscretions–and once there, they never really go away. A particularly sharp example of this was last year’s controversy over Senate candidate Bob Schaffer’s son’s racism-festooned Facebook page, though more benign–and frequently hilarious–examples abound.

Apropos, we were forwarded this Facebook pic of GOP state Sen. Shawn Mitchell today. Those of you with weak constitutions or impressionable children may wish to take precautions before peeking below the fold…

Now it’s worth pointing out that in 1981 when this photo was taken, the acronym “OMFG” was not yet in everyday use. And it’s reasonable to assume that Mitchell wasn’t concerned at the time about this photo winding up visible…to all his constituents…as a state senator. Also to be fair, he didn’t actually intend for it to get into the wild, as he explains:

I didn’t post this!

A mischievous friend posted and tagged this photo from our high school yearbook. I’m not totally opposed to it…but would prefer it not be the first pic in my album. Can anyone help me move it to the back of the queue?

Though we do find the timing of this picture’s, uh, unsheathing, just a few weeks after Mitchell got rather skeezy (another term that didn’t exist in 1981) with Sen. Morgan Carroll during the Pinnacol oversight hearings, too funny to not mention. Much like Justin Schaffer’s “slavery gets shit done” pics were a bit of an ironic wrinkle for his dad in the context of that Marianas sweatshop thing, there’s some choice morsels of irony for the savoring in this ‘flashy’ blast from Mitchell’s past.

And yes, we’re as relieved to see those boxer shorts as you are.