Regional Democratic leaders will meet next week to interview potential candidates to fill the seat that former Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, vacated last month in the Illinois House.

Party leaders from St. Clair, Monroe, Perry and Randolph counties will meet at 6:30 p.m. July 19 at Columbia City Hall at 100 W. Fourth St. At the meeting, the four party county chairmen will hear from candidates. Only those who submit information on or before Friday will be considered for the appointment.

Those who are interested must have resided within the 116th District for at least two years before the appointment and be at least 21.

Monroe County Chairman Alan Pirtle said he and the other party chairmen will review qualifications, conduct interviews and make sure the individual they select is committed to ensuring the metro-east is well represented in the Illinois House.

“Given the economic challenges facing this region, we need someone in Springfield who can get results,” Pirtle said in a statement.

Reitz won re-election in November, and his current term would have expired in January 2013. The former coal miner and employee of the United Mine Workers of America was in the middle of his seventh term before suddenly resigning on June 25. He was first elected to the House in 1998 after having been initially appointed in August 1997 to complete the late Rep. Terry Deering’s term.

Already Jerry Costello II has expressed interest in the seat. Costello II, the son of U.S Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, and Southwestern Illinois College President Georgia Costello, told the News-Democrat last month that he “absolutely will be interested in seeking the appointment.”

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