A small town in Eastern Oregon is experiencing a political tempest in a D-cup, so to speak, over their mayor's racy photographs. It seems that Mayor Carmen Kontur-Gronquist's MySpace pictures of her posing on a town firetruck wearing only her black underwear is causing a bit of a stir.
ARLINGTON, Ore. (AP) – Mayor Carmen Kontur-Gronquist's name is sure to be mentioned when Arlington holds its annual town meeting Wednesday.
Some of the mayor's roughly 500 constituents will want to know her views on the issues affecting the Eastern Oregon community; others will want to talk about her underwear.
The mayor's lingerie is a hot topic here, with some residents upset that she posted pictures of herself wearing only a black bra and panties on her MySpace page. She was on one of the town's fire engines.
Kontur-Gronquist's MySpace page is blocked to all but her friends, but the pictures were at one time available to all users. Someone sent the following picture to KATU last week:
Kontur-Gronquist thinks it is no big deal and that people should "get over it." Some of the other local officials are having real problems with her stance – and state of undress:
And at least one city council member is speaking out, saying the photos are inappropriate and send the wrong message to kids.
"It gives the impression that it's just OK to do whatever you feel like doing, whenever, and not have any kind of concern about how it might affect other people, and that is a big concern I have," council member Alice Courtney told KATU.
Like it or not, the standards for politicians are somewhat different than for the population at large. They need to consider that. Like it or not, the relative state of undress of Kontur-Gronquist in her photo does reflect back on the town and on the fire department. That said, if she had posed in a bikini instead of her bra and panties, most people wouldn't care at all. Interesting, isn't it?
Your last comment is what I was about to say. She shows no more here than in an average bathing suit.
Still, nice abs.
They are upset with this? There are people up there that defecate and urinate on our Flag; they burn soldiers in effigy, and they are POd for this?
Give them back to Spain or England or wherever we got Oregon from.
She must have severe self-esteem issues.
“That said, if she had posed in a bikini instead of her bra and panties, most people wouldn’t care at all. Interesting, isn’t it?”
Yes, it is. Especially when most bikini bottoms are skimpier than the panties I saw in that photo. However, the operative term here is “most people” – even in the bikini there would be some prudes who would flip out.
I’ll have to keep my eyes open next time I go through Arlington.
When I was younger, I would have agreed with Snooper, but nowadays, i agree with syn. A woman posing in her lingerie like that is looking for approval for her figure. If she had just wanted to display how in shape she is, she would have posed in a swimming suit.
And just how does one pose in underwear in a town’s fire station? Wouldn’t most people who tried to do that end up in jail?
I wonder what her political errrr…positions were during the election that she won.
Al, as long as the doors were closed she probably couldn’t be charged under public indecency laws because she was indoors in a private area and not on public display when the photo was taken.