The former mayor of a small Oregon town whose scantily-clad MySpace photos sparked a major uproar appeared on the Today Show Monday.

Carmen Kontur-Gronquist, of Arlington, Ore., told co-host Meredith Viera that she’s still surprised and saddened by how much negative publicity her photos received.

She said she was on vacation when the issued first surfaced. Her 17-year-old daughter called to tell her that someone was dispersing the pictures throughout town.

“I immediately called each one of my counsel members, I did not apologize for the photos, but I did apologize for putting them in that position if they felt uncomfortable. At that point, I felt the situation was done and resolved,” Kontur-Gronquist said.

“About 2 weeks later, I received a phone call from a local newspaper editor…and he asked me a few questions and the next thing I knew it was on the front page Saturday morning,” she said.

When asked whether she ever considered removing the photos from the popular social networking site, Kontur-Gronquist said no.

“They call it ‘MySpace’ for a reason…These people know me. They know I was a lifeguard for four years in a string bikini much more revealing than what’s on the poster,” she said. “I think the photos were used for a trigger point for the recall committee.”

Kontur-Gronquist hasn’t decided whether she will fight the recall. She was stripped of her office last week.

In the meantime, she has decided to sell the photos on Ebay.

“I had thousands of people emailing me on MySpace asking for signed photos,” Kontur-Gronquist said. “I will be donating a portion [of the proceeds] back to the local ambulance service…and the health district.”

The photos were posted a year before she was elected mayor of Arlington. One of the pictures shows her posing in black underwear in front of an Arlington fire truck. The other shows Kontur-Gronquist lifting weights in her bra and panties.

Kontur-Gronquist said she had permission to use the fire truck and had intended to use the photos for a fitness contest.

The single mother said a friend later posted the photos on MySpace, with her consent, to help her meet men.