Six applicants came into Friday's Workforce Safety and Insurance committee meeting and six applicants came out.

Friday's meeting of the WSI"s interim executive director and CEO search committee was scheduled to determine which of six candidates for the interim director's job would be interviewed. But after reviewing the applicants' resumes and cover letters, and debating different methods of narrowing them down, the committee decided to interview all six.

The candidates are:

* John Dorso, former North Dakota House majority leader and Fargo-area business owner.

* Bruce Furness, a former mayor of Fargo who was asked to apply by Gov. John Hoeven.

* Peg Haug, a state Commerce Department employee who formerly worked at WSI and Job Service North Dakota.

* Layne Kertamus, former head of the Montana State Fund, that state's workers' compensation system

* Paul Traynor, a Devils Lake area attorney with experience in insurance issues.

* John Vastag, sales-marketing and public relations manager with Laney's, a Fargo area heating and cooling company.

WSI is looking for an interim leader who can make changes at the agency and then hand it off to a permanent director and CEO. The search comes a week after a consultants' report recommended personnel changes at WSI, a state agency that has endured turmoil, audits and heightened scrutiny over the last year.

John Halvorson, the current interim director and CEO, is a WSI employee who took over in the wake of former director Sandy Blunt's dismissal last fall.

In preparation for Friday's meeting, committee members were asked to rate the candidates on a scale of one to five in the following categories: local/regional presence, familiarity with North Dakota culture and institutions, management and leadership skills at a large organization, ability to make management and personnel choices that will allow WSI to restore trust in management, ability to work with various political viewpoints and ability to help find a permanent CEO.