Nader files debate suit in city

After being denied entrance to the first presidential debate at the University of Massachusetts at Boston on Oct. 3, Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader filed suit yesterday in Boston against the Commission on Presidential Debates.

The suit alleges that the Commission, by using state police to exclude Nader from the audience, violated the candidate’s constitutional rights to free association, speech and equal protection and portions of the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act.

Although Nader was not permitted to debate, he planned to attend as a spectator and conduct an interview with Fox News. Earlier in the week, Northeastern student Todd Tavares donated his transferable ticket to the candidate.

Campaign officials claim that when Nader tried to enter a spectator area in Lipke Auditorium, he was stopped and threatened with arrest by Commission security consultant John Vezeris and three state police officers. When Nader tried to enter a second time to conduct the scheduled interview, he supposedly met similar opposition.

The suit names Commission co-chairs Paul Kirk Jr., Frank Fahrenkopf, Vezeris and the three police officers as defendants.

Nader announced the filing of the suit from St. Louis, where he planned to address demonstrators outside the third and final presidential debate. He also called for the establishment of an independent debate commission controlled by citizens.

Campaign spokeswoman Stacy Malkan said although the lawsuit comes too late to change this election’s debates, the future will be different.

“It’s too late to have any effect on this cycle,” she said. “The Commission of Presidential Debates will be enjoying the last election controlling the information that reaches the public.”

The entire event revealed the biased nature of the Commission, she said.

“I think it’s just another example of how far they’ll go to silence political opponents,” she said.

Boston University Green Party organizer Sean Nelson, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said Nader was treated unfairly by the Commission.

“That completely justifies the lawsuit,” he said.

He believed that Republican candidate George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore were afraid Nader would gain heavily in the polls following any debate appearance.

The lawsuit, he said, will change the next campaign process.

“They’re trying to keep the American public from knowing what is going on,” he said. “This is the last time that this will ever happen.”