District 9 Council Transmits 3 Names to Gov.

News Release from Maui County Democratic Party January 12, 2013

WAILUKU, Hawai‘i – The House District 9 Council Nominating Committee has completed its selection meeting.

“We were extremely impressed with each of the applicants. They were all well qualified, thoughtful and we would be proud to have had any of them as our representative for House District 9. We thank all of them for their commitment to public service,” said Dave Merchant, Chair of the Nominating Committee.

Applicants considered were James “Kimo” Apana, Anthony Lloyd Edington, Renee-May Kehau Filimoe’atu, Alan Fukuyama, Kallie Keith-Agaran, Joseph Pontanilla, and Justin Woodson.

The Maui County Democratic Party is following state party guidelines which does (sic) not allow the selected names to be publicly released until after the Governor appoints an individual to the seat. Any requests for the selected names can be directed to the Democratic Party of Hawaii or the Office of the Governor.

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Democrats Still Refuse to Release Names of Senate Nominees

Maui News January 13, 2013

By law, Abercrombie has 60 calendar days following the first day of the vacancy to make an appointment for the seat in the district….

Abercrombie has acted quickly on his appointments in the past….

Louise Kim McCoy, communications director and press secretary for Abercrombie, said Thursday that the governor officially received the three names for the Senate seat Monday and made the appointment later that day.

But she did not address how quickly Abercrombie would make a House appointment.

"Once he gets the names, the governor will make his decision in regular order, in due course," McCoy said. "If they (Hawaii Democratic Party) repeat what they did last time, even though they met on a Saturday, the names were not submitted officially to the governor until the following Monday."

Behind closed doors Saturday afternoon, the District 9 council, which is made up of eight members, gathered to interview and to listen to the seven Democratic candidates vying to fill the vacant House seat….

Hashimoto said that since Kallie Keith-Agaran is the chairwoman of District 9 and Woodson is a precinct president in District 9, they both could not sit in on the applicant interviews and presentations, which could have given them an unfair advantage.

But they were allowed to vote, he said….

The release said that any requests for the selected names can be directed to the Democratic Party of Hawaii or the Office of the Governor.

Last week, McCoy said that it would be up to the Democratic Party of Hawaii to release the names.

A Hawaii Democratic Party official said last week that she was not sure yet if and when the names would be released, but if they were released they would be sent to the media. No names were released as of Saturday evening.

read … Maui News

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7 Apply for House District 9 Position

MAUI COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY RECEIVES 7 APPLICATIONS FOR HOUSE DISTRICT 9

News Release from Maui Co Democratic Party January 11, 2013

WAILUKU, Hawai‘i – The Maui County Democratic Party has received seven applications from Democrats in good standing who live in House District 9, which encompasses Kahului, Puunene, Maui Lani and Old Sand Hills to replace the seat left vacated by Senator Gil Keith-Agaran.

Applicants include James “Kimo” Apana, Anthony Edington, Renee-May Kehau Filimoe’atu, Alan Fukuyama, Kallie Keith-Agaran, Joseph Pontanilla, and Justin Woodson.

The District 9 Council will comprise the official nominating committee and will meet on Saturday, January 12, 2013.  The committee will allow each candidate to speak for up to 10 minutes and committee members will be able to vote for up to three candidates, but not for the same person. 

The final three names as identified by the nominating committee will then be transmitted to the Maui County Democratic Party Chair and the Hawaii Democratic Party Chair who will then forward the names to the Governor.  The Governor has sixty calendar days following the first day of the vacancy to make an appointment to the House seat.

The nominating committee will not release the top three names of the candidates and will defer to the Governor on whether he will release the three names to the public.

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Related: Back Room Deal? Democrats, Union Boss Refuse to Identify 3 Nominees for Senate Opening

Maui News January 15, 2013: Three under consideration by governor for House seat