Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday appointed Maui attorney Gilbert Keith-Agaran to serve the two-year term of late state Rep. Bob Nakasone, who died Dec. 7, a few weeks after winning re-election.

Keith-Agaran will serve House District 9, which includes Kahului, Wailuku, Pu'unene, Spreckelsville and Pa'ia.

From 2003 to 2005, he was director of the county Department of Public Works and Environmental Management, and was chairman of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources from 2000 to 2002.

Keith-Agaran, a partner in the law firm of Takatani & Agaran, was a member of the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission from 2000 to 2004, and before that served as director of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and as deputy director of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

Under state law, in the event of a vacancy in the state House of Representatives, the governor is required to appoint someone from a list of three candidates submitted by the prior incumbent's political party.