The Commission on Presidential Debates, which was created by the
Republican and Democratic parties, still refuses to make public the
contract negotiated by the Obama and McCain campaigns that will
govern our presidential debates. This lack of transparency is
unacceptable. It is time to take action.
Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) of the McCain campaign and
Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) of the Obama campaign directly
negotiated the secret contract that will dictate the terms of the
upcoming presidential debates.
PLEASE CALL the offices of Sen. Graham and Rep. Emanuel and demand
that they make public the debate contract. They are elected
officials who are obligated to serve the interests of the voting
public:
Phone number of the Office of Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC):
202-224-5972
Phone number of the Office of Rahm Emanuel (D-IL): 202-225-4061
Also, PLEASE CALL the Commission on Presidential Debates and demand
that it makes public the debate contract. The Commission claims
that its mission is to “provide the best possible information to
viewers and listeners.” Hold them accountable to their mission.
Phone number of the Commission on Presidential Debates: 202-872-1020
Please let us know what happens.
Open Debates is teaming up with nine other pro-democracy
organizations to issue the following press release today demanding
the release of the debate contract:
http://www.opendebates.org/
Additionally, you can hear Open Debates Executive Director George
Farah on the radio show “CounterSpin” at the following link:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?
Thank you for all your support!
-- Open Debates Team
2 comments:
The Commission on Presidential Debates is a private corporation and has every right to keep its sensitive deliberations secret just like the LNC does. They don’t want the opposition parties to have information that might be used against them just like the LNC doesn’t.
You should applaud the Commission for upholding the standards set by the Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
You have an interesting concept of what a private organization is . . .
The Commission is "a nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) corporation", which mean that *you* support it. We all allow it to pay no taxes, and to allow others to take tax deductions for contributions. IMNHO, that means we *own* part of it.
It is also supposed to be non-partisan - that is part of its incorporation, and why it was awarded the "official" Presidential Debates. It is clearly not fulfilling this legal requirement.
And in addition, the majority of the debates have been scheduled for "public" institutions. Universities, typically. Once again, we're paying for them.
And john, if you have a problem with the LNC, what have you done to change it? I suggest that you join it - I did. Because I thought it needed change. So I'd suggest that you ask yourself "what am *I* doing to create what *I* want?"
And then go out and make it a gentle day . . .
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