hallenging the use of corporate money to fund the fall presidential debates, a group of voters led by Ralph Nader and the Green Party urged a federal judge in Boston yesterday to declare the donations illegal and to halt the debates unless the money is returned.
US District Judge Patti B. Saris, who said she expects to rule on the case within a few weeks, voiced concern that the lawsuit filed in June against the Federal Election Commission may create ''pandemonium'' because the first debate is scheduled for Oct. 3 at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.
But a Boston lawyer, Scott P. Lewis, who represents Nader, insisted that the debates could go forward, even if corporate donations are banned, with money from government entities, private donors, candidates, political parties, and media outlets. He said the group is not opposed to media outlets contributing to the debates.
''We are trying to stop corporate sponsorship of debates,'' said Lewis, adding that the events amount to corporate-subsidized advertising for the leading Republican and Democrat to the exclusion of third-party candidates, such as Nader.
''The debates aren't nonpartisan, they are at best bipartisan,'' Lewis said. ''The debates have been used to further the interests of the two leading political parties. They are paid advertisements subsidized by the supporters of those two candidates.''
Since 1907, federal law has prohibited corporations from contributing to candidates for president and Congress.
Lewis argued that the Federal Election Commission acted unlawfully when it created an exception to the law by adopting regulations that allow corporations and labor unions to make unlimited donations to the Commission on Presidential Debates. The commission is a nonprofit corporation established in 1987 to organize debates for presidential and vice presidential candidates.
But a Washington lawyer, Stephen E. Hershkowitz, assistant general counsel for the Election Commission, argued that federal law allows corporations to spend money to encourage people to vote. And, he said, the presidential debates are part of a major effort to interest the public in voting.
''We did not offer any benefit to either candidate,'' Hershkowitz said of Vice President Al Gore and Governor George W. Bush, who are expected to face off during the fall presidential debates at UMass-Boston, Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Washington University in St. Louis. ''Both are being offered the same thing.''
An aide at the Commission on Presidential Debates said Nader would be invited to participate in the debates if he scores more than 15 percent in national polls taken after Labor Day.
National corporate sponsors of the debates include Anheuser-Busch, The Century Foundation, 3Com, the Marjorie Kovler Fund, Philip Morris Companies, J.P. Morgan & Co., Ford Motor Co., Prudential, and Dun & Bradstreet.
UMass-Boston and the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum are working to raise $2 million to cover the cost of hosting the Oct. 3 debate at the university's Clark Athletic Center. While a number of corporations, including The Boston Globe and The Boston Herald, have contributed to the event, the largest contributor is the state, which is authorized by the Legislature to pay $900,000 of the costs, according to Annemarie Lewis-Kerwin, who is coordinating the debate for the university.
Other local contributors include the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, Fidelity Investments, FleetBoston Financial, the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, Liberty Mutual, Boston Capital Partners, the Carpenters Union, the Boston Red Sox, Arthur D. Little Inc., and EMC Corp.
''We clearly could not host this event if we did not get support from the Legislature and all of the people and organizations that contributed,'' Lewis-Kerwin said. ''Not only is it benefiting UMass and helping us put on this historic event, but it's benefiting the city and the state.''
Nader and the Green Party were not alone in their suit against the Federal Election Commission. Joining them as plaintiffs were Susan Sarandon, the movie actress, and Phil Donahue, the television personality, who cochair Nader's national steering committee. Heidi Becker, an independent voter who wants Nader to participate in the debates, is also named as a plaintiff.
But Hershkowitz insisted yesterday that the suit had been filed too late to halt this year's debates. The Federal Election Commission, he said, is entitled to file appeals that probably would not be exhausted before the voters elect a new president.
