BOSTON (AP) - Former Green Party candidate Ralph Nader has settled his lawsuit against the Commission on Presidential Debates for barring him from attending a debate in Boston, even as a spectator.
Under the terms of Monday's settlement, the commission agreed to issue an apology and pay an undisclosed amount of money.
The case was to go to trial Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Boston.
"I'm glad that after 18 months we spent on this, it has been resolved," said Janet Brown, executive director of the commission. "We don't believe his claims were substantiated."
Nader had sued the commission for excluding him from the site of the Oct. 3 debate, even though he had a ticket to watch in a side room. He maintains he was discriminated against because of his political views and prevented from doing interviews at the debate site.
The commission already had excluded Nader from participating in the debate because he did not have the required minimum of 15 percent support in opinion polls.
U.S. District Judge William G. Young dismissed several of Nader's claims in February but declined to dismiss the suit.
In a statement Monday, Nader said he had demanded that the commission contribute $25,000 to the Appleseed Center for Electoral Reform at Harvard Law School. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
The commission, an independent nonprofit organization led by two former Republican and Democratic party chairmen, began sponsoring presidential debates in 1988.
2002-04-16 12:08:22 GMT