CARBONDALE - All three finalists for the director position at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute would meet the approval of the center's founder, members of his family said.

Bill Freivogel, director of Southern Illinois University Carbondale's journalism department; Art Turner, a two-decade veteran of the Illinois legislature from Chicago; and David Yepsen, a political columnist for the Des Moines Register are vying to fill the spot held by the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon and Mike Lawrence, a veteran journalist and staff member of Gov. Jim Edgar.

All three candidates give "all the more reason to expect that the institute will continue to serve the way Paul expected it to," said Patti Simon of Carbondale, Paul Simon's widow.

The three candidates will visit campus next month to interview with university and institute officials, as well as meet with members of the public.

Yepsen will visit Dec. 1, Turner will be on campus on Dec. 4 and Freivogel will interview on Dec. 9.

Each candidate will host a public open forum from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. on his respective date in the Illinois Room of the SIUC Student Center.

Sheila Simon, Paul's daughter and chairwoman of the institute's board of counselors, said all three candidates would be excellent choices and she looks forward to spending time with them during their visits.

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