The Cornell-sponsored press conference with Vice-President Richard M. Nixon was branded a "partisan political move" yesterday by the Tomkins County (N.Y.) Democratic Committee.

In a strongly worded telegram sent to Governor Averell Harriman, the Committee charged that tonight's television interview would be "a slick advertising stunt" arranged by the Republican National Committee.

Harriman said Tuesday morning at an Albany press conference that he had written a letter to Cornell's president, Deane W. Malott, about Nixon's appearance. Harriman added that he wrote to Malott as a member of the University's Board of Trustees, not as Governor of New York.

In a further attempt to avoid controversy, Harriman said that the contents of the message would have to be revealed by Malott, not himself.

No comment was available from Malott, who is in New York city at present and thus has not yet received the Governor's letter.

Malott attempted over the weekend to appease his critics by extending the "hospitality of the campus" to Paul H. Butler, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Although Butler has sent no reply, local leaders agree that Malott's offer is "too little and too late."

Thirty publications have accepted the Cornell invitation so far, including the CRIMSON.

The program will be televised this evening on channel seven at 9 p.m.