Ellie Light

Ellie Light is the name or a pseudonym of a letter writer to numerous newspapers in the United States of America. "Ellie Light" (as well as "Ellie Jeanne Light"), in many of the more than 60 letters so far published, claimed a local address within the circulation area of each newspaper in which the letters appeared. The letters are nearly identical in grammar, style, and substance, and many have speculated on their origin and whether they were sent as part of an organized campaign. Each letter supports President Barack Obama. The letters also contain the following closing statement: "...and a president can’t just wave a magic wand and fix everything."
Winston Steward
A man calling himself Winston Steward, a 51-year-old health care worker from California, has identified himself as the letter writer to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He communicated with the Plain Dealer first by phone, and then using an email address matching that of letters sent to various papers, it was reported. "I am Winston Steward and have been sending the letters from Ellie Light," his e-mail explained. "I hope this ends any confusion and sets the record straight."
The article also quotes Barbara Brooks, who says she is his wife (he says they are divorced) and confirms that he wrote the letters. She had previously stated this on her Facebook wall. A reader of Patterico.com had traced her to Steward using Twitter and by identifying the screenname Winston44 left at another blog.
Earlier, in emailed correspondence with The Plain Dealer, "Ellie Light" had denied speculation of being one of the Obamas, or National Security Council member Samantha Power: "I'm flattered, and I must give the Tea Partiers credit for even knowing who is," Light's e-mail said. "But what I want to point out is that, if I were a person trying to imply this huge groundswell of support for our beleaguered president, then I would have signed the letter with different names. However, as you may have noticed, my main point is that absence of support for the president.

"I am not surprised that an article that tends to discredit a pro-Obama letter-writer has lots of readers. I understand that there are 10 million dittoheads that daily scour the airwaves, print and online press for something nasty to say about the president, so I'm sure your article will get more hits," she wrote in another e-mail later Sunday. "I'm not sure why you would write me that people would probably be interested in what I have to say. My impression is that my letter could contain Chinese food recipes with a Pro-Obama subject line, and the event would be interpreted as fodder for that same highly-motivated, but narrow class of people."
On January 26, 2010, a woman claiming to be the real "Ellie Light" and asserting that the name was really hers discussed her conduct on the Michael Smerconish radio talk show. She claimed to be a "traveling nurse" who lived primarily in Southern California, and admitted to fabricating local addresses in connection with some of the letters because, she figured, if the reader thought it was written by a neighbor, it would be given more credence."

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