John Prescott Ellis
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John Prescott Ellis (born February 3, 1953) is an American former journalist and media consultant, and is now a partner in the venture-capital firm Sand Hills Partners. He is a nephew of former President of the United States George H. W. Bush and a first cousin of former president George W. Bush and former governor of Florida John Ellis "Jeb" Bush.
Family background & private life
Ellis's father was Alexander B. "Sandy" Ellis, an insurance executive in Boston, who studied at Yale University. His mother was Nancy Walker Bush Ellis, a sister of former president George H. W. Bush. His siblings include former Denver Broncos CEO Joe Ellis and Alexander Ellis III. Both his father Sandy Ellis and uncle George H. W. Bush were members of Skull and Bones at Yale.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Ellis himself also attended Yale University, graduating in 1976.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref>
Ellis is married and has two children with his wife Susan Smith Ellis, a former executive for Omnicom Group and CEO of (RED). They live near the Hudson River.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>
Career
In 1978, Ellis started working for NBC as a consultant.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite news</ref> He then worked on his uncle George H. W. Bush's presidential campaign in 1979, and later returned to NBC, where he worked for the elections unit until 1989.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" /> He was the Appleman Fellow at the Shorenstein Center at Harvard’s JFK School of Government in 1989, then a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics beginning in 1991.<ref name=":4" /> From 1994 to 1999 he was a columnist for The Boston Globe.<ref name=":2" /> In 1998 he took a position with Fox News Channel as head of the Election Night decision desk.<ref name=":2" />
Election Night 2000
Fox News Florida call
On the night of the 2000 U.S. presidential election Ellis was working as a consultant for Fox News, serving as the head of Fox News's Election Night decision desk, where he analyzed data from the Voter News Service.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> Fox News was the first (at 2:16 am ET) to call Florida for Bush, with other networks following shortly thereafter.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> The call occurred during a temporary lead for Bush due to the Volusia error. After the election, journalists including The Washington Posts Howard Kurtz alleged that Ellis had called the election for his cousin, George W. Bush.<ref name=":0" />
Bush campaign phone calls
According to an interview Ellis gave to Jane Mayer of The New Yorker magazine in 2000,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> he was responsible for Fox News's decisions in calling states for Gore or Bush based on statistical results from the VNS data.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" /> Ellis also admitted sharing exit-poll data with his cousins by phone. After the interview was published, Fox News Vice President John Moody admitted that Ellis had broken rules by sharing the data and said he was considering disciplinary action.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" /> In the interview Ellis stated that he relayed early vote counts the Bush campaign in Austin.<ref name=":1" /> Ellis later provided CBS News with a copy of a letter he claimed he sent The New Yorker. In the letter, Ellis states that he did not share information with the campaign during two afternoon phone calls.<ref name=":1" /> It further states that later in the evening "as actual vote results" came in, Ellis spoke frequently with the Bushes about "what was happening" in several states.<ref name=":1" /> According to Ellis, other workers on the decision desk – "most of whom are registered Democrats" – were talking to the Gore campaign. Ellis says that he was ultra-scrupulous because of his relationship. "We obeyed those [rules] more strictly than any other news organization, precisely because my cousin was running for president," Ellis told USA Today.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref>
This controversy was picked up by, among others, Michael Moore in his 2004 film Fahrenheit 9/11.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Recent career
From 2002 to 2006 he was a contributing columnist for The Wall Street Journal.<ref name=":2" /> In 2002 Ellis began working as a Senior Fellow at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.<ref name=":2" /> In 2005, President Bush awarded his cousin Ellis the Outstanding Civilian Service Award.<ref name=":2" /> In the last few years Ellis has worked in investment banking and is a partner in Kerr Creek Partners, and also is a contributing columnist to Real Clear Politics as well as his own political blog called Ellisblog!.<ref name=":2" /> In 2011, Ellis became editor of the Politix section of Business Insider, focusing on the intersection of the business world and politics.<ref name=":2" /> During the 2012 United States presidential election Ellis worked as a contributing opinion editor at BuzzFeed News.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2021, Ellis hosted the News Items Podcast with co-host Rebecca Darst, produced by The Recount.<ref name=":4" />