Bob McCarty Writes

Ten self-described pro-democracy groups are calling on the Commission on Presidential Debates to make public the secret debate contract negotiated by the Barack Obama and John McCain campaigns.  The list of groups involved includes:

Open Debates, Common Cause, Fair Vote, Judicial Watch, Democracy Matters, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting, Rock the Debates, Personal Democracy Forum, Reclaim Democracy and Essential Information.

According to a news release this morning, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) of the McCain campaign and Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) of the Obama campaign have negotiated a detailed contract that dictates the terms of the 2008 presidential debates, including who can participate and the structure of the debate formats. The Commission on Presidential Debates, a private corporation created by the Republican and Democratic parties, has agreed to implement the debate contract. In order to shield the major party candidates from criticism, the Commission has refused to release the debate contract to the public.

“In denying voters access to critical information about our most important political forums, the Commission on Presidential Debates is more concerned with the partisan interests of the two major party candidates than the democratic interests of the voting public,” said George Farah, executive director of Open Debates.

“In a sound democracy, it is vital that voters have full access to information, including the rules that govern influential presidential debates, in order to hold the candidates accountable and to make informed choices,” said Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause.

“The partisan, corporate-funded Commission on Presidential Debates should be replaced with a non-partisan, publicly-funded Citizens’ Debate Commission that will operate transparently and champion the public interest,” said Rob Richie, executive director of Fair Vote.

The Commission on Presidential Debates was created by and for the Republican and Democratic parties. In 1986, the Republican and Democratic National Committees ratified an agreement “to take over the presidential debates” from the nonpartisan League of Women Voters. Fifteen months later, then-GOP chair Frank Fahrenkopf and then-Democratic Party chair Paul Kirk incorporated the Commission on Presidential Debates. Fahrenkopf and Kirk still co-chair the Commission on Presidential Debates, and every four years it implements and conceals contracts jointly drafted by the Republican and Democratic nominees.

Note: A copy of the 2004 debate contract negotiated by the George W. Bush and John Kerry campaigns is available at:  http://www.opendebates.org/news/documents/debateagreement.pdf.