In 1985, responding to complaints about various aspects of the election process, a bipartisan Commission on National Elections convened under the joint chairmanship of former Democratic Party Chairman Robert Strauss and former Republican Defense Secretary Melvin Laird. Like all such commissions, its makeup has prevented the adoption of any radical or even innovative recommendations. The debates, the commission said, "should not be left to the vagaries and uncertainties of each presidential election." It urged "the two political parties to assume direct responsibility for directing the joint appearances." Forthwith, party chairmen Paul Kirk and Frank Fahrenkopf created the nonprofit Commission on Presidential Debates and asserted control over the upcoming 1988 contests. Denied all but a symbolic role in the sponsorship, the League of Women Voters, which had run the debates since 1976 and had a claim going back to 1952, pulled out. "It has become clear to us that the candidates' organizations aim to add debates to their list of campaign-trail charades devoid of substance, spontaneity and answers to tough questions," the league stated. "The league has no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public."