The Arlington mayor whose risque Web photo garnered international attention was recalled in a close election Monday. Residents of the Columbia River town voted 142-139 to recall Carmen Kontur-Gronquist. The ouster took effect Tuesday, Arlington city officials said…. “I knew it was going to be close, but I didn’t think it was going to be that close,” Kontur-Gronquist said Tuesday afternoon. Recall backers faulted Kontur-Gronquist’s handling of water and sewer problems, all but closing the money-losing municipal golf course, and how City Council meetings were conducted. But it was the disclosure this winter of a photo of the fit 42-year-old posing on a city firetruck in a black bra and underpants posted to her MySpace page that turned the town topsy-turvy.
What do you get when you have a cabal of ignorant, small-minded people making decisions? Well, you get something that looks a lot like this fiasco. Several weeks ago, I wrote about the plight of Carmen Kontur-Gronquist, the mayor of Pleasantville Arlington, OR, who on Monday was recalled by the good people of Arlington. Her crime? Being very fit and looking very…um, HOT…in her underwear. Never mind the fact that the photo was taken before Ms. Kontur-Gronquist was even elected mayor, and that that the photo was intended for a magazine fitness contest. I don’t know what the fine people of Pleasantville Arlington were thinking, but, damn…if my mayor looked like that, I’d be a LOT more interested in local politics.
Some of the people who voted against Ms. Kontur-Gronquist will tell you that they voted against her because of the way she handling city water and sewer issues. Some may have some other vague gripes. Really, though; should any reasonable person believe that this recall vote would have taken place if not for the mayor’s alleged “moral turpitude”? I didn’t think so. (Never mind the fact that Kontur-Gronquist is trying to make lemonade out of lemons by selling autographed copies of her infamous underwear picture on eBay. I haven’t been able to find the listing yet, but she’s doing it as a fundraiser…if I remember correctly, it’s for the Arlington Volunteer Fire Department.)
I don’t expect the good, moral citizens of Pleasantville to be wholeheartedly supportive of Ms. Kontur-Gronquist’s willingness to display her fit, photogenic body. Hey, if I looked that good, I’d have have pictures of myself all over da Interweb. She’s an attractive woman who takes pride in being physically fit. That’s a crime? Especially since these pictures were taken long before she became mayor.
GET. OVER. YOURSELVES. ALREADY.
Judging by the weeping and gnashing of teeth generated by Ms. Kontur-Gronquist’s MySpace photo, you’d have thought she was trolling elementary and junior high schools with a pair of kneepads. What I wrote back in mid-January still holds true for me today:
So the mayor showed a little skin. Hey, anyone who looks that good and takes care of herself the way she obviously does should be proud of her body. Personally, I find nothing obscene or inappropriate in the photo. So she’s a good-looking woman with a great body; since when is that a crime??
Indeed. IF Ms. Kontur-Gronquist had done this while running for, or while in office as mayor, I could see where the fine, upstanding, sainted Christian citizens of Pleasantville Arlington might have a gripe. The reality, though, is that the photos were taking long before she ran for mayor. Let’s think about this for a second, shall we? If it’s considered reasonable to hold elected officials up to higher standards than we would ever hold ourselves- for things that happened PRIOR to their public service- why is Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © still in office? Or is this simply because the mayor is a woman and small-town small minds can’t stomach the idea of a woman being anything but deferential, barefoot, and pregnant?
Ms. Kontur-Gronquist may have lost the recall election, but in my mind she’s a winner, because she’s managed to stay above the whiny, self-righteous, judgemental pinheads who see themselves as the moral guardians of Pleasantville Arlington. She deserved better, and so do the people of Pleasantville. It’s their loss, because they already had it.
