Ellie Light: Obama Astroturfer? Or Very Energetic Letter Writer With Houses All Over the Nation?

Pattericos Pontifications ^ | 1-23-10

[My Favorite Headache]

1/23/2010 Ellie Light: Obama Astroturfer? Or Very, Very, Very Energetic But Independent Letter Writer? With Houses All Over the Nation? Filed under: General — Patterico @ 1:52 am

A woman has written the same letter defending Obama to dozens of publications across the country, getting them published in at least 42 newspapers in 18 states, as well as Politico.com, the Washington Times, and USA Today. And the woman, Ellie Light, has claimed residence in many of these states.

Think there might be some phony Astroturfing there?

At the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sabrina Eaton makes a nice catch:

Ellie Light sure gets around.

In recent weeks, Light has published virtually identical “Letters to the Editor” in support of President Barack Obama in more than a dozen newspapers.Every letter claimed a different residence for Light that happened to be in the newspaper’s circulation area.

“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,” said a letter from alleged Philadelphian Ellie Light, that was published in the Jan. 19 edition of The Philadelphia Daily News.

A letter from Light in the Jan. 20 edition of the San Francisco Examiner concluded with an identical sentence, but with an address for Light all the way across the country in Daly City, California.

Variations of Light’s letter ran in Ohio’s Mansfield News Journal on Jan. 13, with Light claiming an address in Mansfield; in New Mexico’s Ruidoso News on Jan. 12, claiming an address in Three Rivers; in South Carolina’s The Sun News on Jan. 18, claiming an address in Myrtle Beach; and in the Daily News Leader of Staunton, Virginia on Jan. 15, claiming an address in Waynesboro. Her publications list includes other papers in Ohio, West Virginia, Maine, Michigan, Iowa, Pennsylvania and California, all claiming separate addresses.

She has more houses than John McCain!

But there are a few more places her little pro-Obama missive appeared, besides those documented.

Like Ben Smith at Politico.

And the Washington Times.

And a blog at USA Today.

And the Sheboygan Press in Wisconsin. And the Stevens Point Journal in Wisconsin — listing an address of Algoma, Wisconsin.

And in addition to the Californian.com link provided in the Plain Dealer story, listing an address in Salinas, CA, there are other California letters with other California addresses.

The letter appears in the Gilroy Dispatch and Morgan Hill Times, both listing an address of San Felipe, CA.

And in Good Times, listing an address in Santa Cruz, CA.

And in TheUnion.com, listing an address of Grass Valley, CA.

And Connecticut’s stamfordadvocate.com.

A letter was sent to a columnist at the local Daily Breeze here in the South Bay area of Los Angeles.

On an unrelated note, recall that recently, Glenn Greenwald flagged the fact that Obama’s pal (and head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs) Cass Sunstein recently wrote this paper suggesting something sounding a lot like Astroturfing:

Sunstein advocates that the Government’s stealth infiltration should be accomplished by sending covert agents into “chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups.” He also proposes that the Government make secret payments to so-called “independent” credible voices to bolster the Government’s messaging (on the ground that those who don’t believe government sources will be more inclined to listen to those who appear independent while secretly acting on behalf of the Government).

Who is Ellie Light?

I would like to know.

Wouldn’t you?

P.S. If you find other examples, please leave them in comments with a link. Many more updates in the extended entry.

UPDATE: Add the following:

California: The Los Banos Enterprise, listing an address of Gustine, CA.

Maine: In addition to the Maine link above, there is another appearance of the letter in Maine: in the Bangor Daily News, in which Light lists an address of Bangor, Maine.

Maryland: The Baltimore Chronicle.

Massachusetts: The North Adams Transcript, listing an address of Williamstown.

List your additions below.

UPDATE x2: Add these as well:

Connecticut: Another Connecticut paper, in addition to the Stamford listing: the Danbury News-Times. And here’s another: the Greenwich Time a/k/a Ctpost.com. (Address listed is Greenwich.)

Georgia: Gainesville Times. (Her address is listed as Gainesville.)

Massachusetts: In addition to the above, there is The Berkshire Eagle.

New Hampshire: It appeared in the Seacoastonline, which appears to be an online version of several New England papers including the Portsmouth Herald, Exeter News Letter, and others. Light’s address was listed as Portsmouth, NH.

Vermont: Bennington Banner.

Wisconsin: In addition to the above, there is the Oshkosh Northwestern (address listed is Oshkosh).

So far I count 35 publications in 16 states as well as the District of Columbia. Light managed to get herself published in media outlets in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

UPDATE x3: redc1c4 adds Spectrum.com in Utah, where Light claims to be from Washington City. That’s 36 publications in 17 states plus D.C.

UPDATE x4: DRJ adds 5 more publications in comments:

Here are a few more:

HudsonHubTimes.com, in which Ellie listed Streetsboro OH as her hometown.

[Duplicate already mentioned in the Plain Dealer article eliminated.]

The Willits News, with Willits CA as the hometown.

CDAPress.com of Coeur d’Alene ID, with Ellie listing a hometown of Post Falls.

From Ohio, the Chillicothe Gazette, with Chillicothe OH as the hometown.

And my current favorite so far, The Bangkok Post — the “World’s Window to Thailand.” No hometown provided.

Idaho is thus included as a new state, bringing the running total to 41 publications in 18 states plus D.C.

UPDATE x4: redc1c4 adds an Annapolis, Maryland publication. Light lists her city of residence as Annapolis. That’s 42 publications in 18 states plus D.C.

[Cicero]

Yes, indeedy.

Out of curiosity, I did a google search for Ellie Light, and didn’t turn up much beyond the expose article.

But I googled that typical Obamanite sentence from her letter, “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,” and I turned up a ton of links to newspapers all over the place.

Something to keep in mind. If anyone sees a suspicious letter in their local paper, they might try googling a key sentence or two and see what turns up.

[Cicero]

FWIW, it sounds to me like Obama’s typical speechwriters. I suspect that the source of the letters is likely the White House. But most likely they wouldn’t send it out from there. They would have volunteer or maybe paid agents willing to do this sort of thing, which is somewhat time-consuming.

That one sentence is very similar to the one Obama was using as a fund-raiser last fall in New York, about getting left with a real mess, and having to mop it up. He used that image at a number of fund raisers back then, but it got into the news in New York when some blogger reported it.

[LA Woman3]

Unrealistic expectations

A year ago, if we had read in the paper that employers were hiring again, that health care legislation was proceeding without a bump, that Afghanistan suddenly became a nice place to take your kids, we would’ve known we were being lied to. Back then, we recognized that the problems Barack Obama inherited as president wouldn’t go away overnight.

During his campaign, Obama clearly said that an economy that took eight years to break couldn’t be fixed in a year, that Afghanistan was a graveyard of empires and would not be an easy venture for us. Candidate Obama didn’t feed us happy-talk, which is why we elected him. He never said America could solve our health care, economic and security problems without raising the deficit. Instead, he talked of hard choices, of government taking painful and contentious first steps toward fixing problems that can’t be left for another day.

Right after Obama’s election, we seemed to grasp this. We understood that companies would be happy to squeeze more work out of frightened employees and would be slow to hire more. We understood that the banks that had extorted us of billions of dollars were lying when they said they would share their recovery. We understood that a national consensus on health care would not come easily. Candidate Obama never claimed that his proposed solutions would work flawlessly right out of the box, and we respected him for that.

But today the president is attacked as if he were a salesman who promised us that our problems would wash off come morning. He never made such promises.

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.

Ellie Light
Waco

link

[CyberAnt]

How about Michelle .. she would be my first guess.

Or .. how about the President’s staff .. what about that gal who is Obama’s chief advisor ..?? She’s always looking at Obama with “moon eyes” .. you know .. like somebody who is playing footsie or somebody who would like to. Of course the media is ignoring it .. but I’ve always noticed it.

[philman_36]

It sounds almost like a coordinated effort to prop up Obama.
Jean à de longue moustache. Je répète: Jean à de longue moustache.

[lack-of-trust]

I am interested in how much effort went into this propaganda campaign.

When I submit an LTE to my local paper, I must include a phone number so the paper can call and confirm I (lack-of-trust) wrote the letter and not someone pretending to be me. How did Miss Light suply and answer a local number for each paper that carried her missives?

[tet68]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2433792/posts

[My Favorite Headache]

They are popping up everywhere like the fleas they are.

[TankerKC]

“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,”...

When you campaign saying that you are going to lower sea levels, a few idiots are going to believe you.

[RichInOC]

“Yes, Virginia, there is an Ellie Light.”

[TankerKC]

Anytime I am published for a letter to the editor they call me directly...sometimes TWICE.

I wish they would for me. I gave up writing letters because they would edit my letter and change the meaning...without consulting me.

[redangus]

There are few local newspapers anymore. The IndyStar used to do that until they were purchased by Gannett.

[BelleAl]

I’m wondering...has anyone researched the papers that published Ms. Light’s letters? Which ones are Gannett owned? Or independent? Or owned by other media groups? It appears from my perspective to be top driven..... Way too coincidental that so many papers picked her LTE out of the scores they receive.

[Dr.Deth]

Another one occurred to me after I posted that. I think they named their kid with the idea he/she/it would go into politics. Now they’ve got a built in slogan:

“Save The Land. Join Declan.”