WASHINGTON - February 19 - Today, Open Debates filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). The complaint contains previously unreleased, secret documents that reveal how the major party candidates collude with the CPD to dictate the terms of the presidential debates and exclude third-party and independent challengers.

"FEC regulations require presidential debate sponsors that accept corporate contributions to be `nonpartisan' and to employ `pre-established objective' candidate selection criteria. The CPD, which accepts millions of dollars in corporate contributions, fails to stage the debates in accordance with these FEC regulations," said Open Debates' Executive Director George Farah.

The complaint alleges that presidential debates sponsored by the CPD are controlled by the major parties in violation of FEC debate regulations.

The complaint further alleges that the CPD was created by the Republican and Democratic parties, for the Republican and Democratic parties. The CPD exists to secretly award control of the presidential debates to the Republican and Democratic nominees. Questions concerning third-party participation and debate formats are resolved behind closed doors, between negotiators for the Republican and Democratic candidates. These negotiators draft secret debate contracts called Memoranda of Understanding that dictate precisely how the debates will be run -- from decreeing who can participate, to prohibiting candidate-to-candidate questioning, to stipulating the height of the podiums. Posing as an independent sponsor, the CPD implements the directives of the Memoranda of Understanding, shielding the major party candidates from public criticism. Many of these issues are documented in the forthcoming book 'No Debate' (Seven Stories Press) authored by Open Debates' Executive Director George Farah.

The complaint requests that the FEC prohibit the CPD from staging future corporate-sponsored presidential debates.

"The CPD has sold out the American people; vital issues which need to be examined by the discerning voter have been suppressed," said Paul Weyrich, Chairman of the Free Congress Foundation.

"The major party candidates can openly hold exclusionary and stilted pseudo-debates if they want to, but to do so under the rubric of nonpartisanship is an unacceptable lie that gravely damages our democracy," said Ambassador Alan Keyes.

"Under the CPD's control, presidential debates have devolved into artificial news conferences, where the major party candidates merely recite prepackaged sound-bites and avoid discussing many important issues," said Kert Davies, research director of Greenpeace USA.

"A nonpartisan Citizens' Debate Commission should replace the CPD," said Rob Richie, executive director of the Center for Voting and Democracy.

Open Debates is a non-partisan organization that works to make the presidential debates serve the American people first. Along with over fifty other civic organizations it has established a non-partisan Citizens' Debate Commission, led by 17 national civic leaders, to replace the CPD. The Citizens' Debate Commission will sponsor real presidential debates that are rigorous, fair, and inclusive of important issues and popular candidates.

FEC Complaint: http://www.opendebates.org/news/pressreleases/FEC.html

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