Who is Ellie Light?

by Eileen McGuire-Mahony | 10:33 pm, January 23, 2010 | Comments Off

Mr. Obama may draw many supporters from among society’s wealthiest , but one fan seems to be raking it in big time.

If we are to believe a series of letters to the editor published in newspapers all over this land of ours, Ellie Light owns no fewer than two dozen homes, including multiple residences in at least seven states, as well as a home in the District of Columbia and a vacation retreatin Thailand.  Goodness, Sen. McCain should be doing so well.

In recent weeks, numerous papers have published all but identical letters in support of the embattled President, all from one woman, a Ms. Ellie Light, listing a local address for each paper’s circulation area.

Ms. Light, writing from both her California and Philadelphia domiciles, points out that, “It’s time for Americans to realize that governing is hard work, and that a president can’t just wave a magic wand and fix everything”, a superb point.  And, when PPC finds her, we’ll ask if she feels the same way about the prior administration.

When Light was questioned via the e-mail she used to send one of her letters, her response was thus:

I do not write as a representative of any organization…The letter I wrote was motivated by surprise and wonderment at the absence of any media support for our President, who won a record-breaking election by a landslide less than 18 months ago, and now, seems to be abandoned by all, supposedly for the infantile reason that he couldn’t make all of Bush’s errors disappear in one day.

Uh huh.

 Someone is playing a game here, and not a very skilled one.

First, the original states targeted – California, Maine, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Virginia, South Carolina, and Iowa – all have vital political importance, be they crucial electoral prizes, November swing states, or the home states of Congressional members who represent make-or-break votes on healthcare.  Some states even saw multiple major papers publish the same letter inside of a week.  In fact, Ellie managed to make it into USA Today, The Washington Times, and the Bangkok Post.  For the complete list, including dates of publication, hometowns listed, and links to the articles, see here.

Secondly, what fool uses the same name and the same text for so many letters?

Campaigns use staff and supporters to flood press outlets in the voting area with sympathetic letters, signed anonymously or using made up names.  But even a virgin city council campaign knows well enough to cook up several names and to vary the wording.  Unless getting caught is the plan.

And then we come to Ms. Light’s response, something that drips with political seasoning and legally safe wording.  It was no unaffiliated citizen with merely an amateur political interest who drafted that.

The article fails to mention something that greatly intrigues this editor.  How did this come to light?  Who turned the spotlight on Light?  The original Cleveland Plains Dealer article linked above includes a chain of e-mails between the author and Ms. Light, but the scenario sounds oddly convenient.   I can believe an Internet search would turn up the numerous letters if one were already inclined to do some digging, but the reason given for the search doesn’t sound right.

This interests me because such a transparent and obvious bid to boost Obama, something so easy to catch and bound to discredit the President’s supporters, almost certainly didn’t come form someone on his side.

Consider the name: Ellie Light, or E. Light, is a laughably lame play on ‘Elite’.  And while Obama is far more a snob than an elitist, he’s been tagged an ‘elite’ by opponents who misunderstand the word’s proper definition and consider it an insult.

We will soon see if this story has any legs or if it gets buried.  But I’m saying right now that I expect to learn this is the work of Mr. Obama’s political enemies.

For those who you who wish to see the full text of the Light Letter, it is included at the end of this article.

Comments

Praise for PPC From Our Lefty "Fan"

• "Zany-ass bombast-entertainment...Hackneyed weirdo communist pseudo-nostalgia" --Alan Franklin, ProgressNow

Featured Posts

• Printing Money Doesn’t Work in Britain Either

  Of course not! Why would anyone conclude that errors are geographical? Errors are errors and attempts to reinflate the British economy using the same hot air compressors that we use here aren’t going to work any better over there than they have here.

• Oklahoma’s Constitutional Amendment Would Pit Taxpayers Against Unions
• Friday’s Unemployment Numbers: Correcting the Corrections
• Romney Woos Grand Junction, Earns Sen. King’s Endorsement
• The Borking of Netflix: movie service finds privacy law to be an inconvenience
• Rich Americans Are Fleeing the Country
• ObamaCare Advisers Predict Death of Health Insurance Companies