My post is at Hot Air:

Steward was peddling lies. The Black Panthers were spreading fear. James O’Keefe was searching for the truth.

Only one of these cases is being prosecuted.

Enjoy.

My post is at Hot Air. Excerpt:

Steward was peddling lies. The Black Panthers were spreading fear. James O’Keefe was searching for the truth.

Only one of these cases is being prosecuted.

Enjoy.

If James O’Keefe wasn’t trying to take down Mary Landrieu’s phone system, should he be facing charges? If he is technically guilty of a misdemeanor of entering a federal building under false pretenses — but intended to commit no felony — should he be prosecuted?

Maybe he did enter a federal building under false pretenses — but doesn’t every Congressperson do that every day?

If Ellie Light (true name Winston Steward) is technically guilty of a misdemeanor for writing letters to the editor under a phony name, should s/he be prosecuted?

Start with O’Keefe. In a guest post here, Federal prosecutor Shipwreckedcrew analyzed the applicable statutes. The important one is here:

18 U.S.C. Section 1036. Entry by false pretenses to any real property, vessel, or aircraft of the United States or secure area of any airport

(a) Whoever, by any fraud or false pretense, enters or attempts to enter – (1) any real property belonging in whole or in part to, or leased by, the United States…shall be punished as provided in subsection (b) of this section.

(b) The punishment for an offense under subsection (a) of this section is – (1) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both, if the offense is committed with the intent to commit a felony; or (2) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than 6 months, or both, in any other case.

Shipwreckedcrew opined that, if O’Keefe did not intend to take down the phone system, then

I would not be surprised if no indictment was filed — or if something is filed, that it is a charge under Subsection (b)(2) of Section 1036, which would be a misdemeanor. A conviction under that section would likely result in a fine and probation.

I don’t believe O’Keefe entered with the intent to commit a felony.

If he merely entered the public areas of the office, in league with people dressed up in costume pretending to be phone guys, all to make a goofy point about Landrieu’s phones . . . should he be prosecuted?

Maybe you support prosecution according to the strict letter of the law. If so, then I have news for you: Ellie Light committed a misdemeanor as well.

California Penal Code section 538a states:

Every person who signs any letter addressed to a newspaper with the name of a person other than himself and sends such letter to the newspaper, or causes it to be sent to such newspaper, with intent to lead the newspaper to believe that such letter was written by the person whose name is signed thereto, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Winston Steward violated this law by sending letters to dozens of newspapers all across the country — many of them in California. Steward lives in California, in a city called Frazier Park. Does the Kern County D.A. plan to prosecute him?

I sort of doubt it.

I do know one difference between Winston Steward and James O’Keefe. O’Keefe was searching for the truth. Steward was peddling lies.

Much depends on what O’Keefe was really up to. I hope we get to see that tape. But — depending on how the evidence shakes out — I can see how this might be a technical “crime” that isn’t worth prosecuting.

Hopefully we’ll get some answers on Hannity tonight.

A name which you first read on this blog this morning, thanks to reader Joseph D, whom I quoted as saying:

The corresponding twitter account has one friend, Jerry Schaefer, from Long Beach, California (the same town as some of Ellie’s claimed residences.) Jerry’s facebook showed one friend named Winston, Winston Steward. Under Winston’s friends, Barbara Brooks claims to be his wife and that he is Ellie Light.

Looks like Joseph D. was spot on. Winston Steward is a Kos Kiddie — see one of his diaries here. (H/t SarahW, who has been sharp on this.)

And the first person he followed on Twitter is the president of a D.C. based public relations firm. An expert on outreach to Hispanic voters, who is writing a book chapter that will touch on Obama’s (and McCain’s) Latino outreach strategies.

As Allah says, it’s a little bit freaky and a whole lot deaky.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports:

Ellie Light, the ubiquitous letter writer whose name appeared in newspapers nationwide praising President Barack Obama, appears to really be a male health care worker from California.

A man who identified himself as Winston Steward, 51, of Frazier Park, Calif., says he made up the name “Ellie Light” to protect himself from criticism and possible physical attacks, and used fake addresses across the country to get local newspapers to publish his letters.

“I am Winston Steward and have been sending the letters from Ellie Light,” he told The Plain Dealer in an e-mail late Tuesday, following a phone interview in which he said the same. “I hope this ends any confusion and sets the record straight.”

Ellie Light aka Winston Steward

Oh, it’s crystal clear! This guy called Michael Smerconish and pretended to be a woman whose real name is Ellie Light. And has a geeky enough voice that he could pass for a woman. What could be clearer?

One interesting fact that ties into observations made by Dan Riehl over the weekend: the first friend on Winston’s Twitter account is the president of a Washington, D.C. public relations firm.

Ehhh, it’s probably nothing. But let’s toss it out there anyway.

It all started with a tip to Dan Riehl and me from LeftCoastRebel. Let me turn over the mike to Dan Riehl, who told us Sunday:

If information I’ve been given is correct, there is circumstantial evidence linking now infamous letter writer Ellie Light to an international public relations firm involved with the White House in helping to promote health care reform.

Left Coast Rebel made me aware of a comment left on his blog by someone claiming to be Ellie Light. The comment was left by someone using the screen name Winston44. In searching out that name, I found a Twitter account under it that has barely been used.

That account is here. It is definitely Winston Steward’s account. It’s not just the name Winston that cinches it. Looking at a list of who Winston44 follows on Twitter, we see that he follows the Chillicothe Gazette, and also jerryschaefer from Long Beach:

Now look at a list of Winston Steward’s Facebook friends. One is also Jerry Schaefer:

(By the way, Winston Steward claims to be from Frazier Park, CA. That’s near some of the papers Ellie Light wrote to. But, interestingly, Ellie Light signed some letters as being from Long Beach. Jerry Schaefer is from Long Beach. There is an Eleanor Light in Long Beach. And I know the area code of the phone number that Lileks used to call “Ellie Light” and it’s a Long Beach area code.)

Now here’s the kicker: Winston’s very first Twitter friend was a P.R. flack. Again, back to Dan Riehl:

The account has never tweeted and follows 18 individuals, with 9 following it. Given that we usually add people we know when we first open a Twitter account, I looked to see who the first individual was that Winston44 added. That would be Adam Segal.

Adam J. Segal, President, The 2050 Group, LLC + Named to PR Week’s 40 Under 40 for 2009.

His firm is The 2050 Group.

Here’s a shot from their Web site:

Is the 2050 Group connected to Obama? Dan found a link, albeit nothing that firm:

What [Segal] is, or was involved with is the National Alliance for Hispanic Health Care. And this press release puts them in the White House, Google shows them to be supportive of Obama, particularly his health care reform agenda – and the release also establishes Segal as the media contact.

This is hardly conclusive stuff at this point. Tonight I noticed this description of Segal at his firm’s Web site:

With a decade of public relations and marketing experience, Adam J. Segal has become one of the nation’s most accomplished young executives.

In his work for corporate, non-profit and political clients throughout the past decade, Adam has advised clients on, and developed, branding and advertising campaigns across a wide range of media formats including print, television, radio, Internet, and outdoor. His work has reached hundreds of millions of people across the United States and around the world.

Impressive. Why was he the first person that Winston Steward followed on Twitter? Moving on with the description of Segal:

Adam is a Faculty Lecturer in the Master’s of Arts in Communication program at Johns Hopkins University’s Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Advanced Academic Programs. He teaches two cutting-edge courses he designed:

• Internet Strategies: he has taught dozens of students how to change the way organizations think about the Internet and use emerging technology and tools to grow

. . . .

He founded and directs the Hispanic Voter Project at Johns Hopkins University. . . . And he is currently at work on a book chapter on the Hispanic voter outreach efforts of 2008 presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain.

Now. I have no idea whether Segal knows Winston Steward. I don’t know everyone who follows me on Twitter. This could all be a total dead end. In fact, at this very moment, I’m inclined to say it is, and that Winston Steward is just a kook.

At this point we know only one thing: Winston Steward is a huge liar. Why is he lying? Because he fears threats from the right wing? (Which, as should be obvious, nobody should level.) Because he is hiding a connection to a P.R. firm? Because he has a screw loose? (Or several?) I have no idea.

But there’s no harm in throwing this all out there for you to peruse. That’s the idea of the open source method.

UPDATE: SarahW reminds of something she mentioned before, the significance of which was lost on me before: another of Winston’s 15 Facebook friends is named Ellie. And what does she do for a living?

President of a Washington, D.C. public relations firm.

Michael Smerconish spoke to someone claiming to be Ellie Light. Ben Smith has the audio.

The person claiming to be Light admits deception in representing her address, and places herself in Southern California (presumably Long Beach, the residence she claimed in several of the letters). She says she’s a traveling nurse who submitted it to newspapers in many places she has been to. That is consistent with the IP address that we traced to Huntington Beach — which is close enough to Long Beach for IP purposes.

I don’t know that I’m convinced. She stumbles on the name of “Ben Smith’s blog” where her letter was initially published. (It’s Politico. Would she not know that?)

Complicating matters is that a second person is stepping forward and “admitting” to be Ellie Light . . . or, at least, Ellie Light’s spouse.

Someone on Facebook named Barbara Brooks (a pediatric nurse) claims that Ellie Light is . . . her husband. She writes on her Wall:

Don’t think you can make a difference? Well, my husband wrote letters to newspapers under a pen name “Ellie Light” and over 42 newspapers published the letters and now Ellie Light is the most searched name on google. I don’t agree with using phony names, though. But then he isn’t a Mennonite . . .

The same comment was left on Left Coast Rebel yesterday at about the same time.

Reader Joseph D. e-mails with a complicated chain of evidence linking her to an earlier comment left at Left Coast Rebel’s blog, under the screenname Winston44. Joseph D. says:

The corresponding twitter account has one friend, Jerry Schaefer, from Long Beach, California (the same town as some of Ellie’s claimed residences.) Jerry’s facebook showed one friend named Winston, Winston Steward. Under Winston’s friends, Barbara Brooks claims to be his wife and that he is Ellie Light.

For more background on this angle, see Dan Riehl, who discusses a link with an Adam Segal of the 2050 Group.

I have to go to work and I honestly don’t know what to make of any of this. The Smerconish interview may well be with the real “Ellie Light” — but assume nothing. Ellie still has a few questions to answer, I think.

And again, keep your eye on the ball. Don’t get carried away with focusing on a single person. This isn’t about one person, but about identifying deception generally.

UPDATE: Looks like Joseph D. and Dan Riehl were onto something. Maybe.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer tells us that Ellie has been identified. She is a nice old grandma type who made a little mistake. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

Except . . .

Except that they have an update which reads:

UPDATE: The Plain Dealer has now talked to two different people claiming to be Barbara Brooks. One says the real Ellie Light is her husband; the other, husky-voiced, says she’s divorced. The story below was posted based on an interview with the husky-voiced version.

You thought that was weird? You haven’t seen weird.

Now we get to the strangest part of all. Gawker picks up on the Facebook page entry by Barbara Brooks, mentioned above, in this post.

And then it gets bizarre. Brooks says the Ellie Light on Smerconish’s show was her ex-husband. Who sounds, according to her, like a woman. (?!?!)

Meanwhile, Gawker says, there is another Ellie Light sending around her phone number.

I called it this morning, after receiving it indirectly, and invited her to lunch.

No response.

Stay tuned!

This post summarizes the evidence of Astroturfing by Obama supporters that surfaced over the weekend.

Astroturfing is phony “grassroots” activity. The term refers to opinions that seem to be genuine — but, in reality, are directed by a Central Planner.

Over the weekend, we discovered two types of Astroturfing:

Donald Trump Astroturfing: A letter published in multiple places from one person claiming to live in multiple cities

Ellie Light was the quintessential Donald Trump Astroturfer. In fact, her real estate holdings would put Trump to shame. She published the very same pro-Obama letter in 65 publications — including 31 states, and the District of Columbia. It also appeared in 3 national publications and a Yahoo link — and in 2 foreign publications, including a publication in Bangkok, Thailand.

And she claimed to live in almost all of these locations. Because that claim enhanced her ability to place her letters. So she claimed to live in Philadelphia, PA; and Daly City, California; and Mansfield, Ohio; and Waynesboro, Virginia; and Algoma, Wisconsin; and Bangor, Maine — and dozens of other places.

Who said Obama supporters were all downtrodden?

Mark Spivey appeared in several places as well. And Ellie Light and Mark Spivey claimed residence in almost every publication to which they sent their letters.

Not even Donald Trump can claim such extensive real estate holdings!

The conclusion is simple: Ellie Light and Mark Spivey are liars. They pretend to be from multiple places to enhance their credibility. In fact, they are from one location — and they are trying to pretend they are individuals from all over America.

But they aren’t. And that leads us to Category #2:

David Axelrod Astroturfing: Identical letters published in multiple places claiming to be from different people

You get suspicious when you see the same letter appearing in multiple locations with multiple names.

In this post, I documented the same letter being written by Janet Leigh and Earnest Gardner. And another letter written by Gloria Elle — and Jan Chen. And another written by Jen Park — and Lars Deerman. And another written by Jen Park — and John F. Stott.

And identical paragraphs from another letter were written by Gordon Adams of Danbury, Connecticut. And Joe Rodriguez of La Porte, TX. And Robert Stephenson of Austin. And Ron Avila of San Francisco, CA; Mary Acosta of Baldwin Park, CA; Nancy Speed of Tulsa, OK; Sheila Price of Valencia, CA; Clarence Ndangam of Clarks Summit, PA; Vernetta Mason in the Suffolk News-Herald; Greg Mitchell of Fort Mitchell, Ohio; Ermelinda Giurato of Elk Grove Village, Illinois; J. Scott Piper of Cape Coral, Florida; Robert Vander Molen of Camdenton, Missouri; and Terri Reese of Vista, CA.

This latter group appeared to be copying a letter they saw on the Web site of the Democrat party. But that doesn’t explain all of the similar letters.

One of two things could be happening.

Maybe there’s a P.R. firm behind it all.

Or maybe there’s a centralized entity (like Organizing for America or the Democrat Party) which says: Hey, guys! It would really rock if you all sent a letter to your local newspaper that read something (or, hell, EXACTLY) like this. And then they give you the text to send on to your local paper — of course, using your real name and location.

There appears to have been a lot of this as well. And readers of those Letters to the Editor were fooled.

While the participants were undoubtedly well-meaning, the effect is simple. A Centralized Body determines a message. Minions repeat it. And readers are tricked into thinking that the message is individualized.

So now that you’ve seen the evidence, what should you do?

Simple. Don’t take anything at face value. Look at pro-Obama letters in your own local paper and search phrases on Google to see if they are examples of Astroturf.

Then report back here with the results. E-mail me at patterico@gmail.com.

It’s our duty to get to the bottom of this.

Because Big Media never will.

It’s up to us.

UPDATE: Ellie Light left a comment at Amy Kane’s blog with a long justification of why she did it — but no explanation of why she lied about her addresses. The IP address of that comment: 174.144.15.155, which appears to come back to Huntington Beach, CA.

UPDATE x2: Joy McCann also received a comment from Light, and e-mails to say that IP address is the same as the comment left at Kane’s blog. The comment was also left early this morning, so there’s no guarantee that’s a static IP address. It would help to have the IP address on comments she left in other places on other days.

For what it’s worth, nobody using that IP address has ever left a comment at my blog. If you have a blog, you might check your past comments for that IP address. And if she comments anywhere else, please pass along the IP address.

UPDATE x3: It bears repeating that, as I noted in a previous post, a series of letters published in newspapers recently has been traced to the web site for the Democrat Party. And Barack Obama’s Organizing for America has been in on the act, too. More on that here.

[Guest post by DRJ]

This post gathers links to letters by Ellie Light or Ellie Jeanne Light written to newspapers or other online media sources as discussed in Patterico’s posts here and here. It will be updated with additions and corrections as we find them.

Current totals:

69 publications in 31 states and the District of Columbia.

3 national publications and a Yahoo link.

2 foreign publications.

Please leave links to new Ellie Light letters in the comments to this post.

— DRJ

(more…)

I have posted about Ellie Light at Hot Air, here. An excerpt:

Editors all over the country found Light’s message strangely compelling. It was reprinted at The Politico; the Philadelphia Daily News; the San Francisco Examiner; the Washington Times; and a USA Today blog. In addition, the letter has appeared at literally dozens of small-town papers across the country, with names like the Los Banos Enterprise, the North Adams Transcript, and the Danbury News-Times.

Ms. Light always claims to be a local in these letters. Her real estate holdings are apparently prodigious, as she has claimed residences in Philadelphia, PA; Daly City, California; Mansfield, Ohio; Waynesboro, Virginia; Algoma, Wisconsin; Bangor, Maine; and dozens of other places. Who said Obama supporters were all downtrodden?

The latest count: 47 publications in 23 states.

We’ll keep working on this one. Thanks to DRJ and Stashiu for their ongoing help.

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.

(more…)

I know, I know: nobody can “make” some apologize for a non-offense, and nobody should. But in the society we live in, she probably felt like she had no choice. Surely nobody thinks she is actually sincere when she says she views having been casually labeled “KKK princess” by ugly ideologues “in a positive light”:

Actress Ellie Kemper is apologizing for her involvement in a debutante ball as a teenager that has come under recent criticism for the organization’s controversial history.

. . . .

“When I was 19 years old, I decided to participate in a debutante ball in my hometown,” she began. “The century-old organization that hosted the debutante ball had an unquestionably racist, sexist and elitist past. I was not aware of the history at the time, but ignorance is no excuse. I was old enough to have educated myself before getting involved. I unequivocally deplore, denounce, and reject white supremacy,” she continued. “At the same time, I acknowledge that because of my race and my privilege, I am the beneficiary of a system that has dispensed unequal justice and unequal rewards.”

Kemper went on to add, “I believe strongly in the values of kindness, integrity and inclusiveness. I try to live my life in accordance with these values. If my experience is an indication that organizations and institutions with pasts that fall short of these beliefs should be held to account, then I have to see this experience in a positive light.”

Allahpundit puts her Grave Offense in context:

When she was 19 years old, she participated in something called the “Veiled Prophet Ball,” a debutante soiree in St. Louis. That ball had been started by a former Confederate officer in the 19th century and excluded blacks and Jews for years but was integrated in 1979, a year before Kemper was born. She took part in 1999, making her guilty of nothing more than enjoying an institution that used to be racist but no longer was.

Which virtually every other American is also guilty of. How many institutions in this country that pre-date, say, the 1950s have a spotless record on race? If Kemper has to apologize, shouldn’t everyone who’s golfed at a country club built before the 1980s need to apologize too?

I guess that’s the idea. Today, Kemper, tomorrow, the golfers.

Any institution in which you voluntarily participate, that has any sort of questionable background, now makes you — personally — subject to being labeled a racist. Do you shop at a supermarket? How dare you. Don’t you know that supermarkets have “chased white, suburban customers at the expense of black communities in urban areas”? And there you are, helping them oppress the downtrodden minority. You dirty racist.

I recently wrote a newsletter that attacks the simplistic framework you have been sold that employers typically reject resumes with black names. The argument is subtle, revolving around issues related to socio-economic status, and Nic and I have been discussing it comments to my post about it. One thing that occurred to me this morning, though, is how easily such an argument could be seized upon by Twitter and twisted into something it isn’t (“Patterico says everyone with a distinctively black name is low class!! FIRE HIM!!!1!”).

This sort of thing doesn’t just degrade the discourse, it makes it positively dangerous to discuss or do almost anything. You don’t even have try to be controversial to be a victim of this. For Ellie Kemper, this nontroversy was like a bolt of lightning out of the sky. And if you don’t engage in some apologetic theatrics in response (Allahpundit notes the “struggle session vibe” to Kemper’s remarks) there is a real danger that society will target you for some kind of mass shunning.

I’m not a fan of the term “cancel culture” given its abuse by Trumpist righties. But whatever you call it, there is a very real, twisted phenomenon out there that causes someone like Ellie Kemper to feel she must “apologize” for having done absolutely nothing wrong 22 years ago.