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Candidate Gil Keith Agaran

by Anthony Pignataro

August 02, 2012

GIL KEITH-AGARAN



Running for: State House District 9 (Kahului, Wailuku, Paia, Spreckelsville)



Running against: Joe Pontanilla



Birthplace: Wailuku, HI



Profession: Incumbent state representative



Electoral Win/Loss Record: 1/0



First electoral victory: 2010 (9th District state House seat)



Supports: Organized labor, universal health care, tax credits for scientific and tech initiatives, more affordable housing



Opposes: Loosening fire safety inspections, corporate personhood



Gets campaign donations from: ILWU Local 142, gaming industry lobbyist John Radcliffe, gaming lobbyist George A. “Red” Morris, Ulupalakua Ranch boss Sumner Erdman, developer Kent Smith, HMSA PAC, A&B PAC



Gil Keith-Agaran may have a very brief career in elected politics, but the attorney who now practices law in Wailuku with Tony Takitani has a long resume packed with state and county government: Maui County Public Works Director, Chairman of the state Board of Land & Natural Resources, Director of the state Department of Labor & Industrial Relations, Deputy Director of the state Department of Commerce & Commerce Affairs. Appointed by then-Governor Linda Lingle to fill the vacancy left by the 2009 death of Representative Bob Nakasone, Keith-Agaran won election in his own right in 2010 and has since risen to the post of chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. He graduated from Maui High, then earned his B.A. at Yale and his J.D. from UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law. Considered one of the more intellectual members of the House, Keith-Agaran is also a big fan of Twitter (his handle is @GilKAOGG), and he’s one of the few Hawaii officials to use social media extensively.