DIFR Chairman Carl Officer Calls for a Southern Illinois Debate

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill., Oct. 29, 2014 -- Carl Officer, former four term Mayor of East St. Louis and founder of Democrats & Independents For Reform (DIFR), announced today that he has arranged for the last debate among all three candidates for Governor to take place on Friday October 31^st at the radio broadcast studios of KQQZ (1190AM) in Belleville, Illinois. Bob Romanik, long time host of a daily political talk show on the station, will moderate this telephone debate.

"With less than a week until the election, I am somewhat frustrated that Southern Illinois is being overlooked this election cycle with no debates taking place here, and I want to be sure folks from our region get to hear the candidates address issues important to our half of the state," Officer commented.

Romanik added, "There are THREE, not TWO candidates on everyone's ballot for Governor on November 4^th, and KQQZ is committed to our First Amendment rights that ALL candidates be heard.  Therefore, in conjunction with Mayor Officer, we are extending the invitation to debate to Governor Quinn (D) and Mr. Rauner (R), as well as Chad Grimm, the Libertarian Party candidate.

Mayor Officer confirmed through DIFR co-founder Stephen Denari that Mr. Grimm has accepted the debate offer from KQQZ today.  For full disclosure, Mr. Denari joined the Chad Grimm campaign as a Senior Political Strategist, based on his pro-life beliefs and successful court battle to be on the ballot.

"We are hopeful that Pat Quinn and Bruce Rauner will also confirm their participation, and we WILL hold the debate if either one or both agree to this telephonic debate along with Chad Grimm—if neither agrees to debate, I will instead interview Mr. Grimm on the program," noted Romanik. "The debate will be broadcast live and also be recorded and posted as a podcast on the KQQZ website over the weekend for all voters to review before casting their ballots next Tuesday, November 4^th.

The debaters will be questioned for an hour with no commercial interruptions hosted by Bob Romanik at 10am by a panel made up of professional and college journalists to be announced later in the week.