[ad_1]
Bar stools. Cadillac Circular saws. Encyclopedias. Trucks flat. Grand pianos John Deere tractors. Kewpie dolls. Garden chairs Log Cabins. Miniature Cars Carpets in the East Panini presses. Revolvers. Water beds.
Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) Sold all this and more during his three decades as an auctioneer.
But after being elected to Congress in 2010, the seven-time winner of the "Ozarks Best Auctioneer" had to abandon his auction business in order to comply with the House's ethical rules. In addition, he told the Springfield News-Leader in 2009: "You can not run a business like an auction company when you're in Washington."
He may not spend his weekend selling real estate anymore, but Long can still talk in the swirling style of an auctioneer when the opportunity arises. On Wednesday, this skill eventually made him an unexpected star at a hearing in the House on political biases in social media.
About an hour after the hearing of the House Energy and Business Committee, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had just answered a question from Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.).
Then, right-wing activist Laura Loomer, who was sitting in the audience, stood up and interrupted with an unsolicited speech.
"Please, help us, Mr. President, before it's too late," she implored President Trump, who was not in the room. "Because Jack Dorsey is trying to influence the elections, to make the elections democratic, to steal the elections."
Representative. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), The Chair of the Committee, told him on several occasions that she would be removed from the hearing if she did not sit down. The gavels were hit. The order was called.
Loomer continued, wielding a selfie stick to film herself while she was talking about "banishing shadows".
"What?" Long can be heard asking. "What's she saying?" I can not understand it.
Then he burst into the rhythmic game of an auctioneer, drowning Loomer as he recited a series of imaginary offers.
"Thirty dollars now, two and a half, seventy-five, forty …"
He continued to advance as security escorted Loomer out of the room.
"We are selling the cell phone there," joked Long as she was jostled over the threshold. "Four and a quarter, four and a half years …"
At that time, the people sitting in the audience had become completely disconcerted, judging by their facial expressions. When Long finally stopped to breathe less than a minute later, jokingly as he yielded to the speaker, he was applauded.
During the rest of the day, and during a period of intense national division, Long was revered by social media as a hero by users of various political affiliations. Some have recommended his quick and wise approach to stopping a noisy protester. Others have simply appreciated the strangeness of a congressional hearing turning into a cattle auction. Just about everyone except Loomer – who has published many tweets stating that she had been censorship and the behavior of the congressman was sexist – was happy.
Since Long is not exactly a household name in national politics, his not so secret past as an auctioneer has taken many surprises.
But Long is the real article. In addition to being a licensed auctioneer, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Auctioneers Association in 2016.
"My father took me to my first auction at age 2, the Frisco Auction Dead Freight," recalled Long in his induction speech. "The goods that would be damaged on the Frisco Railway would ship them to Springfield, and that was my indoctrination in the auction business."
Long's fascination with auctioneers and their mannerisms – how they held their hats, how they carried their canes, how the song worked – quickly became an obsession. In the summer, when other kids were playing indoors or swimming at the pool, Long drove his bike at auction. At 14, he was following Willis Talbot, a local auctioneer who would become his mentor.
In the beginning, Long enrolled at the University of Missouri with a business studies project, he told the Springfield News-Leader. But he found the college boring and gave up after three semesters, and started a career in real estate instead. In 1979, he graduated from the Missouri Auction School in Kansas City.
In 1984 he started his own auction business. In 2010, Billy Long Auctions had become "one of the largest auction companies in the state," performing about 200 auctions a year and rejecting another 400 claims, the News-Leader reported.
Politics, like auctions, had attracted his attention from an early age. At age 9, Long cycled around the city distributing stickers for a sheriff's Republican candidate, he told the newspaper. At the age of 12 or 13, he and his dog, Little Bear, had invented a ride.
"He said," Little Bear, would you rather be a democrat or a dead dog? " "At the right moment, the mixture of poodle and terrier would turn, feet in the air."
While running his auction business, Long also hosted a local AM radio show, including the official biography. A few years after the show ended, he announced that he would run for Congress in 2010. Long proudly touted his lack of political experience, positioning himself as an outside candidate who would cut government spending and say to reporters: "We must return ordinary people to DC"
Long is currently one of two auctioneers in Congress. The other is the representative Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.).
Wednesday was not the first time Long showed his auctioning abilities in Congress. In April 2011, he "auctioned" the national debt in a solemn speech, calling figures of up to $ 14 trillion to talk about government spending.
Long, whose personal Twitter account is @ auctnr1, is clearly proud of his track record as an auctioneer and his unusual career in Congress.
"A lot of people are saying," He's not watching the game, he's a great auctioneer, "he told the News-Leader in 2010." Well, I'd rather be a statesman and be a patriot just look at the room.
More from Morning Mix
Numpon had 'Deep Throat', Trump 'Lodestar': an archaic word becomes a hashtag of resistance
"Wild," says Trevor Noah. "All the while, we had Trump's trump.
A woman crushed the service of the Mormon Church and accused the former head of having raped her in 1984. He denied it.
[ad_2]
Source link
