Did Huckabee & McCain get waitress fired for supporting Hillary?

[RamboLiberal]

This Obama supporter and Democrat is outraged by this. From Arkansas Times Blog the story of the firing of Micah Qualls - a minister's daughter and a hardworking waitress. I also posted the story in LBN: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3286284

Letter to Arkansas Times from Micah Qualls, the fired waitress:

Today Senator John McCain made a stop in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was greeted on the tarmac at the airport I work at by Governor Huckabee and other Republican supporters.

In the heat of the moment, I remembered that I had my Hillary for President sign in the car, and spent my break time holding my sign outside the fence where the Senator was landing his airplane.

Apparently, Governor Huckabee noticed me as an employee of the airport, and raised questions with my boss about professionalism, and expressed embarrassment over the incident as the host of Mr. McCain.

I have been at my job for 7 years, and I was fired today because of the "embarrassment." I have no disciplinary actions in my employee file, and am loved by all of the customers.

I am shocked about this decision. But honestly, I would not go back and change what I did. It could have been argued, that though I was on my break, I was still on the clock. For that I would be willing to discuss consequences. But even so, to my knowledge there is no policy in the employee handbook that says we must keep our political views to ourselves. (This is, however more appropriate for any work place, but not illegal.)

I am proud of what I did. I stood outside that fence as one lone ranger expressing my First Amendment Rights.

It is unfortunate that Mr. Huckabee and the other Republicans felt threatened by my little sign. It cost me my job.

But it is worth it to me, because it is fundamentally American to express yourself.

Sincerely
Micah Qualls

I'm in receipt of this letter from Micah Qualls, who says she lost her job today (Friday) at a business at the Little Rock airport for holding a Hillary Clinton sign in sight of where John McCain's plane landed. By her account, the sign drew the attention of Mike Huckabee, who complained to her boss. Huckabee, on Friday night, and the boss, in an interview Saturday, disputed her account.

Qualls waits tables at the restaurant in Central Flying Service. She said she was shocked to be fired for holding a sign behind the fence in the parking lot near the flight line. But she said she was particularly irked that her boss waited until after the lunch shift to let her go.

Qualls, who's completed work to become a teacher and whose vocal talents won the recent Little Rock Star talent contest, has a past with protests. She was among those present at a protest Valentine's Day, 2005 when Huck held his covenant marriage shindig at Alltel. There's also this MySpace page, which includes a Hillary endorsement. She said she was silent and merely held her sign and, though it was during her work shift, there was no business in the restaurant at the time and she was on break. She said her boss had indicated "they didn't need the drama." She's written Clinton to tell her she lost her job on account of her support for her.

I've called Dick Holbert, the boss at Central Flying, for a comment. Private businesses, of course, are exempt from First Amendment protection.

http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/2008/04/the_lone_protest.aspx

[sasquatch]

1. That's what you get for working a "right to work" state

Do what many of us in that situation have done: move!

[DU9598]

2. Not a right to work issue

But it is an employment at will issue.

Grow up Gov. Huckabee. What a sad story.

[sasquatch]

12. "employment at will issue"

What in the hell do you think "right to work" is about?

[dansolo]

3. She did it while on the job, which does open her to being disciplined

If she was on the job, and chose to insult a person who happened to be walking by the restaurant while she was on break, she would have also been fired. Is this really that much different? Personally, I think it was a stupid thing to do.

[RamboLiberal]

5. So you think it was right b/c she held up a candidate's sign

while on her break. Yeah a reprimand might've been in order, but fired!

[yourguide]

4. That is crap...

Lucky for her she's in Arkansas, there are a lot of pro clinton businesses there and hopefully after someone reads her story she'll be offered a job.

Damn rethugs.

[Coexist]

6. she needs to go on all the morning shows

she needs to embarass her employer publicly so he/she never does this again, and no one else in this country thinks that they will get away with crap like this.

[CanonRay]

7. So why don't the good Dems of Little Rock picket the place,

or publicly boycott it?

[GarbagemanLB]

8. I'm sure this will be blamed on Obama soon enough.

[hayu_lol]

9. McCain probably threw one of his infamous...

temper tantrums. And the law of INTENDED consequences was passed by Huckabee to the restaurant manager.

A smart candidate would have made a point of going to her and talking to her. Imperial troops are to eager to cut the heads off ordinary people.

[hfojvt]

10. any chance this will make the national news?

Makes for a great debate question this fall, no? Senator McCain, why do Republicans hate free speech? Surely squelching free speech like that is far more UnAmerican than 'failure to wear a flag pin'.

[bow-tie]

11. Someone needs to inject

McCain with Thorazine when he has his fits. I've seen it done in VA hospitals, you couldn't ask for a more docile patient after the injection.