Retirements open 2 positions to newcomers

Voters will be choosing replacements for veterans Kawakami and Kanoho

LIHUE » Two new state House members representing Kauai will replace retiring Reps. Bertha Kawakami and Ezra Kanoho, with about 40 years' experience between them.

In District 15, from Lihue to Koloa, County Councilman James Tokioka faces architect and Kauai Republican Club Chairman Ron Agor in the Nov. 7 election.

Tokioka, who has been endorsed by Kanoho, highlights his work to pass anti-smoking legislation across the state and curbing escalating property taxes as accomplishments during his 10 years of experience on the Council.

"I want to expand (my) knowledge of government at the state level," he said, adding that he would like to focus on alleviating Kauai voters' concerns with taxes, infrastructure, and education at the state House.

Agor is a "semi-retired" Kauai architect and the Kauai member of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources for the past two years.

A member of numerous nonprofit organizations on the Garden Isle, Agor said he'd work hard to fund nonprofits as a legislator.

In District 16, covering Kauai's south and west sides, land use planner Roland Sagum III goes up against visitor industry specialist JoAnne Georgi.

Georgi, a Republican who had unsuccessfully tried to unseat Kawakami twice, said she "hopes to get the insanity in Honolulu under control" by curbing taxes, fixing the education system, strengthening the sexual predator law and fixing the infrastructure on Kauai.

Sagum, an executive vice president with Kikiaola Land Co., said he's been involved with numerous committees on county and state levels. If elected, he would protect the state hospital system, especially the Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waimea, on whose board he sits.