Heeeeere's Johnnie? Or Dick or Tom? or Mike?

A permanent director of the Public Policy Institute will be named soon. The Daily Egyptian describes the process as the PPI director search draws to a close: "Mike Lawrence, former associate director under Simon and a University instructor, ... acting as interim director ... is one of the four final candidates vying for the permanent position. . . . The other candidates include former ambassador Johnnie Carson, policy director for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington D.C., Richard Sims and National Security Affairs special assistant to the U.S. president, Thomas M. Newcomb."

On the strength of his years of media experience and knowledge of Southern Illinois and Senator Simon and the work of the Institute, not to mention his persuasive, hard-hitting editorials in The Southern, Mike Lawrence should get the nod.