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February 25, 2004
Torrent of Nader Cash Crushes Unsuspecting Couple Ellisons of Bancroft Place NW Pondering $1.86 Million When Javier and Eloise Ellison bought their $1 million town house on Bancroft Place NW in Washington a few years ago, they learned that Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate and latest 2004 presidential candidate, was believed to have once lived in it. After moving in, the couple discovered others convinced that Nader still lived there. People would ring the doorbell and ask to speak to him. "Depending on what the person looks like and if I'm in a whimsical mood, if I open the door and someone asks are you Ralph Nader, I say, 'Yes, I am.' Usually, a really interesting discussion follows," said Ellison, a tax lawyer, who, at five feet, eight inches and 210 pounds, doesn't look at all like the tall and lanky Nader. Last Sunday a few minutes after the end of NBC's "Meet the Press" in which Nader announced he would run for president as an independent, the door bell rang. "Look out, here they come." Ellison called to his wife. Attracted by the Nader hype, the couple had watched the program and expected a few curious Nader groupies to come to the door. Little did they know. "I opened the door and here was this fresh-faced, clean cut college kid in a business suit, with a limo waiting at the curb," Ellison recalled. "He said, 'Are you Ralph Nader?' I just couldn't resist, so I said yes. He handed me this fat envelope." Looking up the street, Ellison was astonished to see a string of cars lining up in an orderly queue. Before he could close his door, another eager young intern-looking type jumped from her limo and handed Ellison another envelope. "Next thing I know, the line of cars was all the way around the block and a D.C. cop was in the street directing the traffic and trying to keep drivers from getting into fights over their place in line," Ellison said. “There were some limos, but lots more ordinary cars.” The Ellisons said the spectacle of strangers handing over envelopes continued all afternoon and into the evening. When the flood became a trickle and then seemed to stop around 8:30 that night, they quickly put a note on the door that read, "Ralph Nader doesn't live here." They turned out all the downstairs lights and retreated to their upstairs bedroom and pulled the blinds tight. They started opening the envelopes and counting, a task that took until 4 a.m. The totals: $318,412.37 in cash and coins and $1,862,550 in checks. “I went through the day assuming the envelopes had campaign contributions,” Ellison said. “Lobbyists and fat cats hedging their bets with Nader just like they do with the Democrats and Republicans and some ordinary citizens wanting to support their hero’s political ambitions. Wow! Was I ever wrong.” Ellison said virtually all the money is from people urging Nader not to run for president. “Some of the notes and letters that were in the envelopes are amazing,” Ellison said. “A child’s block-printed note that says, ‘Please, Mr. Nader. Help save our country. Don’t run.’” He told of opening an envelope and counting out $10,000 in $100 bills. “There was a 10-page handwritten letter from an elderly woman saying she couldn’t bear the thought of dying with a Bush as president. She concluded by saying, ‘Regime change begins at home, Mr. Nader. Do your part and don’t run.’” Ellison said a little girl jumped out of an old Volkswagen minibus and handed him a Piggy bank. When he opened it late that night, he found a note, apparently written by a parent on the girl’s behalf, asking Nader not to run but to “help my daddy get a job” instead. Ellison said a large number of note writers worried that Nader had fallen on hard times and was running for the presidency because he needed the money. “These people said things like, ‘Take this, Ralph. It’s all I can spare, but it’ll buy you some groceries. P.S., why don’t you do something about the supermarkets,’” Ellison said. A recurring theme in dozens of notes was “don’t become another pig at the trough,” he said. Ellison’s attempts to reach Nader or a senior aide and find out what to do with the cash and checks have been unsuccessful. Meanwhile, he’s put it all in safe deposit boxes at his bank. "Some of my partners at the firm are looking into what I should do now," he said. Meanwhile, the Ellisons said they are giving serious consideration to a neighbor’s suggestion: Apply to the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities for one of the 150 giant panda statues that are being parceled out to artists and decorate the panda to look like Ralph Nader. “A tall, skinny Ralph Nader panda would be darling,” said Eloise Ellison, who is an amateur landscape painter. “We’ll put it in an appropriate spot in the neighborhood and when they auction off all their pandas, Ralph should fetch a good price.” A spokesman at Nader’s office who answered Nader’s secret media contact telephone number, said that Nader never lived in the Bancroft Place NW townhouse. Copyright William Stockton & Smithtown Creek Productions |
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