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 -Failed Legal and Legislative Remedies
-The CDC Proposal 
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Failed Legal and Legislative RemediesSeveral members of Congress have proposed various forms of legislation to rectify the flaws in the presidential debate process. On February 4, 1991, Rep. Tim Penny introduced the Democracy in Presidential Debates Act, which required debate sponsors to invite any candidate who is on at least 40 state ballots and has raised $500,000 or received public financing. On July 18, 2000, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. proposed lowering the criteria for third-party inclusion from 15 to five percent in the polls. But these and other pieces of legislation attempting to reform the debate process have been overwhelmingly defeated; all but a handful of the 535 members of Congress are Republicans and Democrats.In 1998, Lawrence Noble, the General Counsel of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), released a powerful 37-page report (6.6MB zipped PDF) claiming that there was "reason to believe" that corporate donations to the CPD were illegal contributions to major party candidates. Noble contended that the CPD's criteria for third-party inclusion were subjective, rather than "pre-established objective" as required by FEC regulations, and he even communicated suspicion of whether the criteria were applied at all: "The role played by Clinton/Gore and Dole/Kemp in CPD's debate participant selection process and the role played by the DNC and the RNC in the creation of CPD suggest that CPD's major purpose may be to facilitate the election of either of the major party's candidates for president." Noble proposed a thorough investigation to determine exactly what took place between Clinton, Dole and the CPD that resulted in Perot's exclusion from the 1996 presidential debates. However, when Noble submitted his report, the FEC commissioners voted unanimously to override his recommendation. Why did the FEC so readily discard the General Counsel's report? The FEC is governed by six commissioners -- three Democrats and three Republicans. This bipartisan balance perfectly suits a political duopoly, but fails to ensure an inclusive democratic process. Lawrence Noble explained, "The commissioners just didn't see anyway that they wanted to seriously challenge what the debate commission was doing. Their main focus was making sure that the Republican candidate and the Democratic candidate were treated equally and could negotiate what they wanted out of the debate regulations." Most popular third party candidates, including Ross Perot and Ralph Nader, have filed lawsuits against the CPD for violating FEC regulations. Although sympathetic with third-party complaints, judges have consistently ruled in favor of the CPD, primarily because the courts must defer to the FEC on election matters that are supposed to be the agency's expertise. "The decision is regrettable with respect to democracy - certainly it does not reflect the opinion of the American people," said District Court Judge Thomas Hogan of his own ruling, which rejected Perot's claims. Related Links
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