A Maui lawmaker announced he would be stepping down from his position amid a possible conflict of interest over his role as a lawyer for the victims of the Maui wildfire.
Democratic Hawaii state Sen. Gilbert Keith-Agaran, 61, revealed on Wednesday that he had plans to retire on Oct. 31, citing an interest in advocating for the victims of the Maui wildfires, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
“It’s something I’ve been weighing,” Keith-Agaran said. “It was mainly because clients have been approaching us. They’ve lost a lot of things. In addition my family hasn’t been immune to what happened. We lost someone.”
JUST IN | Hawaii Sen. Gilbert Keith-Agaran has announced plans to retire from the state legislature, effective Oct. 31. He represents Hawaii’s 5th District, which includes Wailuku, Kahului, Waihe‘e, Waikapu Mauka, and Wai‘ehu. https://t.co/pVHgj7O9JP
— Island News (@KITV4) August 31, 2023
Keith-Agaran, who represents Wailuku, Kahului, Waihee, Waikapu Mauka, and Waiehu, has been in office since 2013 when he was appointed to replace former Democratic Hawaii Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui, according to the outlet.
Before Keith-Agaran’s decision, there was an article from Hawaii News Now after the senator was pictured on a poster with other law firm members.
In his current position, he is the vice chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which is in charge of the budget. Various experts speculated that if he ended up serving as a lawyer for the victims of the wildfire, it would put him in an uncomfortable position of choosing between his clients and the citizens he represents.
Keith-Agaran said the decision to decide between the two “was a question of what’s more important,” and added that he had not seen the article from Hawaii News Now.
Roughly three weeks after the Maui wildfires, the death toll is at 115, although authorities are still unsure about the number of missing people. On Aug. 24, Maui officials released a list of 388 people who were still missing. Prior to this, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said 850 people were believed to still be missing, a decrease from 2,000 names.
After reporting that 388 people were still presumed to be missing, roughly 100 of the people on the list or their relatives said they were safe, according to CBS News.