Carmen Kontur-Gronquist, the mayor of Arlington, Ore., whose personal photos of her posing on a firetruck caused a firestorm in the small town, was removed from office Monday in a narrow recall election, 142-139.

Hm.  Maybe I am wrong about the details of what happened in Arlington, as I did not really follow it minute to minute, second by second, but if I am wrong, just pretend that this is a hypothetical situation based on a hypothetical different town.

From what I understand, the mayor of Arlington was facing a recall petition before her underwear clad myspace photograph circulated, and before the national media swooped in for filler quirky stories.  She was facing trouble for basic municipal concerns over local governance — potholes unfilled and etc.

Which suggests to me that the underwear clad photograph complicated the recall effort.  Where before you line up for or against her based on whether her perceived inability to fill the potholes warranted the drastic step of bringing in new management immediately, now you also have to weigh your own as well outsiders’ perspective on her skivvies.  You can vote to keep her in based on how you view the management of municipal business, caring not a wit about her underwear.  Likewise, you may vote to keep her in as a stand against Puritanism, overriding what might otherwise be a a no confidence vote against her inability to fill the potholes.  You could likewise vote against her based on her government failures, overriding your need to send the message of approval over her underwear.  And you might take that moral stand against her public airing of her undies, even if otherwise you’d feel she ought to serve out her term.

The problem is that the national and regional media, and probably as importantly the wacky world of Internet nay-do-wells,  is covering the story and will judge your decision as though you are a bunch of Hicks making stands on Moral Authority, outraged by a photograph of your mayor in her underwear, and this will be the lasting impression of your town.

Which leads me to the suggestion that if you are a female politician anticipating turmoil down the road, you should keep a sexy photograph of yourself in the vault to unleash in order to confuse the issue.  The mayor of Arlington narrowly lost her recall, but maybe she would have lost it by a landslide if the need to defend  the town from an image of Puritanism didn’t override pot-hole management in the eyes of part of the electorate.

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