Oregon town abuzz over mayor's MySpace lingerie shots

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Now only the 42-year-old mayor's friends have access to the page, but some people in this eastern Oregon community of about 500 are still upset.

Resident Lorena Woods said the photos reflect poorly on Arlington, especially since she was photographed on the fire truck. "This isn't the way we want our city to be portrayed," she said.

Kontur-Gronquist, who is also the fire department's executive secretary, said the photos were taken before she was elected mayor three years ago, and she saw no reason to remove them from the Internet after taking office.

She told the (Pendleton) East Oregonian that she did nothing wrong and those who are offended need to get over it.

Click here for the rest.

Okay, it's a three week old story, but still worth my commenting on, especially because I've been commenting on this wave of weird "gotcha" Puritanism against teachers and public officials taking place these last two years or so; this one is very much in that vein. And when I say "that vein," I mean "bullshit." That is, it simply doesn't matter if this mayor posts semi-nude, nude, or even pornographic pictures on the internet. She can do that. It's her right, and in no way does it affect the performance of her job. And don't try to tell me that controversy affects her job: maybe it does, but she's not causing the controversy; the neo-Puritans are. Fuck 'em.

I'm very glad to see that she's essentially taking the same attitude.

Just to drive the point home a bit further, compare one of Mayor Carmen Kontur-Gronquist's controversial pictures with one taken of a certain Senator-running-for-President while he was on a public outing:


Mayor Carmen Kontur-Gronquist; hubba-hubba!


Senator Barack Obama sexily sloshes in the surf.

See? Virtually no difference; they're both wearing black, even, and Obama is actually baring his nipples! In public! Bwah! If he can do it, everybody can.

Jesus Christ, people are so fucking stupid.

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