'Lingerie' mayor vows to stay in office

updated 11:49 a.m. ET Jan. 19, 2008

ARLINGTON, Ore. - Mayor Carmen Kontur-Gronquist, whose MySpace photos of her posing in black lingerie on a fire engine put this Columbia River town of 600 into something of a pother, told ABC's 20/20 Friday night that she's not stepping down.

"They're going to have to drag me out of here," she said.

The pictures were taken before she thought of running for mayor, said Kontur-Gronquist, 42, the first woman to hold the unpaid position. She said she had permission from the fire chief to use the engine and had intended to use the photos in a contest about fitness in women.

A relative set up the MySpace page, hoping it would jump-start her social life, said Kontur-Gronquist, a single parent. Family members uploaded the photos and she said she saw no reason to take them down once elected.

"I had no clue that it would cause such a negative reaction," she said. "I called my council members and apologized. Everyone is entitled to their own private life."

At a council meeting this month some people asked for her to resign.

"People aren't laughing with us, they're laughing at us," said school board member Grant Wilkins.

Others say they see no problem.

Kontur-Gronquist vows to continue as mayor until her term ends in January 2009.

"The first lesson that I learned (as mayor) is that you'll never make everybody happy. That's the toughest," she said.

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