Sam Kito III

Sam Kito III
Member of the Alaska House of Representatives
from the 33rd District
In office
January 20, 2015 – January 15, 2019
Preceded byredistricted
Succeeded bySara Hannan
Member of the Alaska House of Representatives
from the 32nd District
In office
February 26, 2014 – January 20, 2015
Preceded byBeth Kerttula
Succeeded byredistricted
Personal details
Born1964 (age 59–60)
Anchorage, Alaska
Political partyDemocratic
ResidenceJuneau, Alaska
Alma materUniversity of Alaska (B.S., 1988)
OccupationCivil engineer, politician

Sam Kito III (born 1964) is an American politician from Alaska. A Democrat, he served in the Alaska House of Representatives as a representative from Juneau from 2014 to 2019.

A lobbyist and civil engineer by trade, Kito was appointed to serve out the term of Beth Kerttula in House District 32 after she resigned in early 2014. Governor Sean Parnell selected him in February from among three nominees forwarded by the Tongass Democrats, passing over Juneau Assemblyman Jesse Kiehl and Juneau School District budget committeewoman Catherine Reardon.[1][2] He was sworn in on February 26, 2014 and joined the Democratic-led minority caucus.[3][4]

After being appointed, Kito ran for election to a full term in House District 33 (due to redistricting) and won in a landslide over Republican Peter Dukowitz.[5] When the legislature eliminated per diem payments for legislators who lived within 50 miles of the state capital of Juneau, he concluded that on a small legislative salary it would be very difficult to pay for his daughter's college tuition and did not run for re-election. His compensation would have been cut from $82,488 to $50,400.[6]

  1. ^ Canfield, Jennifer (February 4, 2014). "Tongass Democrats deliver names for open House seat". Juneau Empire. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
  2. ^ "Sam Kito III Nominated to fill Rep. Kerttula's House Seat". KTUU. February 21, 2014. Archived from the original on February 9, 2015. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
  3. ^ Forgey, Pat (February 21, 2014). "Parnell picks Kito to replace Beth Kerttula in Alaska Legislature". Alaska Dispatch. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
  4. ^ Miller, Matt (February 26, 2014). "New Rep. Sam Kito III takes oath of office". KTOO. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
  5. ^ Moritz, Katie (November 5, 2014). "Big win for incumbents on Election Day". Juneau Empire. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
  6. ^ Juneau Rep Sam Kito III will not run for reelection in 2018, Juneau Empire, James Brooks, March 20, 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2019.