Boy do we have a doozy of a firsthand account from Northwest Arkansas. The lady on the left is Kelly Eubanks, a Fayetteville resident and constituent of Steve Womack’s who went to his town hall meeting he held in her hometown Wednesday night. Kelly works two jobs to support her two kids and is trying to finish up her degree, going to UofA in Fayetteville full time in addition to taking care of her family and working. She went to her Congressman’s town hall (something Womack rarely holds) to ask why he voted to cut the pell grants she depends on to go to school but wouldn’t cut oil subsidies. According to Kelley and a handful of other witnesses, Womack happily retorted that it wasn’t the federal government’s job to pay for education (he’s doing this in a college town mind you) and then quickly added that he paid for his education by joining the military, apparently suggesting that the mom of two do the same and totally oblivious I guess to the fact that it was, in fact, the federal government that paid for his education then. Well Womack tried to skirt the rest of Ms. Eubanks question and she proceeded to try and get him to address the discrepancy she pointed out. Well at this point, according to Kelly and several other people that were in the room, Womack blew a gasket.
He skirted the rest of my question and I called him out on it.. he ended up getting pissed off.. and screaming at me.. “are you going to be quiet and listen”
According to Kelly, some of his aides came up and tried to get the mic from her, but she held her ground and kept her cool, insisting her congressman answer her question. Following being shouted at by Womack and told to “be quiet and listen” like a good little girl, Kelly had to put up with some of the usual Rethuglican sleaze telling her to get a job, even after she told them she had two. (They’ve continued this on Womack’s facebook page.) What’s more, according to Kelly, Womack’s constituent service representative, Pam Forester, cornered her and according to Kelly got right in her face to inform her that if she wanted to talk with the Congressman again she needed to go through her and set up an appointment.
Well from there it gets even more fun because the two tv stations that covered it aired two totally different stories. 40/29 News ran a piece that caught the uncomfortable moment between the congressman and Ms. Eubanks. At the time of writing, the segment that was aired on tv hasn’t been uploaded to their website (they’re generally slow about updates on the 4029 page) but we’ll be sharing that as soon as it goes up. 5 News however ran a story where they called Kelly’s question “heated” (really? that’s what passes as “heated” questioning according to the traditional media these days? Man, our democracy is screwed if it is.) and totally cut out the Congressman jumping her case for asking it. (FYI, according to Kelly and my other sources in the room the other guy they interviewed was the one in the room shouting for her to “get a job at Walmart”…) You know, it’s one thing to complain about how bad journalism in Arkansas is after the fact, it’s another thing to see it actually unfold…Seriously, you can see this lady kind of shaking in the video after being yelled at and if you weren’t there or didn’t see the moment 40/29 showed its audience (again, we’ll have that as soon as we can) and that 5 News should have shown you’d have no idea why. Anyway, kudos to Kelly Eubanks, and we will try to have a link to the 40/29 video as soon as it’s posted.
Updates: 40/29 still hasn’t posted the video but the episode has made it’s way online regardless. It takes a lot of time to load but it shows a visibly angry Womack and gives the indication that Ms. Eubanks wasn’t the only one who got treated to Womack’s temper tantrum. Still looking for better quality video here, but really, this is what happens when the schoolyard bully grows up and gets elected to something. Womack’s facebook page has exploded over this. We’re going to stay on this until we get some more video that shows how bad the screaming got last night. Oh, and yes, at 4 am I did accidentally spell “mic” as in “microphone” as “mike”. I beg your forgiveness.
Ah, yes, I would have looooovvvvvved to have covered this one. Best kind – wouldn’t have let Rep. W out the door without either nailing him to a wall or getting him to apologize on the spot. Of course, in today’s media environment, that frightens managers, so figure out what happens.
I have no argument that Womack was out of line, but if you’re going to try to defile a politician, which I approve of, please spell and punctuate properly. Thank you. (Example: Mike is not short for microphone) I agree with your article, but don’t complain about other journalists when you don’t use spell check or proof read, please. It defeats the purpose of your argument. There are also sentences that don’t make sense. If you want to be reputable, these requests are key. You are welcome.
(I usually wouldn’t say anything, but it’s really bad.)
How dare one of the 99% talk back? Class warfare!
And Rachel, unless you’re a concern troll, the place for that sort of comment is in a private email to the author.
Get your facts strait before you start telling other journalists how bad they are.
Steve Womack did not scream at Kelly Eubanks the way 40/29 showed in their video. He was screaming at another man on a completely different topic. I think it’s wrong to front this article in the way you did.
The fact is, you have questionable ethics.
Okay, at least spell my name correctly… I am the 99% of people who can read the name right in front of their face. I am not trying to pick a fight, I agree with you. I am simply asking that you not make the rest of us look like we are uneducated. There’s this thing called “spell check”, I am simply suggesting you use it. Smiley face:) Please.
Rachel-forgive the spelling and grammars, I was up to four am waiting to see if 40/29 posted the video and spell check didn’t catch the “mike” issue. Thanks for pointing them out.
anothervoter-nice try, but I was chasing first hand sources down all night. Fun that you try to excuse the Congressman by saying he was actually screaming at someone else though.
a meltdown by our congressman and its only january!(and btw,his finger pointing is more troubling then his yelling) only yesterday he said on his fathers radio station that “health care costs are more destructive to our economy then war” what do you expect from a pig but a grunt?
To Rachael Dickens: The author should not have apologized for using “mike” and not “mic” when referring to a microphone. Both are fine. “Mike” had been used as a microphone nickname since at least the 1930s, maybe earlier. “Mic” became common only in the last few years, and has surpassed “mike” in popularity. Except as a man’s name — and that’s where I highly favor “Mike.”
And to the author: Don’t apologize. Your use of “mike” is OK, even if it’s not current.
And all of this is way off what should be the key topic, and that’s how the jerk of a congressman treated a constituent. Yank him by his ear hairs!
Thanks for doing a fine job checking sources and presenting the facts. Never mind Rachael that this is supposedly the job of professional, paid journalists, not volunteer bloggers staying up at night to provide a free service to the community. It’s quite a bit rich to insult ARDem for a spelling problem (and even wrongly so) when the issue should be the breathtaking abuse of power and corruption exhibited by our elected representative Steve Womack.
To Kelly Eubanks, kudos and hope to hear more of you. We need citizens like you!
Steve Womack refused too assist my wife/caregiver after V.A. hospital abuse June 15, 2011 at the Fayetteville AR V.A. Hospital. I was taken to the U.S. Veterans Hospital ER while having a stroke. I laid on a stretcher for 5 hours, in the stinch of my own feces and urine. My wife (after 5 hours) cleaned me, took me out of the U.S. Veterans hospital Fayetteville Arkansas, and drove me to Fort Smith Sparks Medical Center where I was hospitalized and treated with HUMAN COMPASSION AND DIGNITY. Steve Womack, John Boozman, and Mark Pryor, each of Arkansas, and our elected officials, TOTALLY IGNORED the incident. We now support Ken Aden, and who ever runs against Pryor and Boozman. Womack, Boozman, and Pryor refuse to answer our phone calls to this day. My wife was verbally attacked by U.S. Veteran hospital GOONS that night of HELL at the Veterans hospital Fayetteville AR and to date, she has recieved NO apology from the Veterans Hospital Fayetteville Arkansas, Steve Womack, Mark Pryor, or, John Boozman. They show NO respect to women, or, Parkinson’s Disease caregivers.
Mr. and Mrs. Lynn E. Carter