Cecil Heftel

Cecil Landau Heftel ( born September 30, 1924 in Chicago, Illinois, † February 5, 2010 in San Diego, California ) was an American politician. Between 1977 and 1986 he represented the state of Hawaii in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Early years

Cecil Heftel attended the public schools in Chicago. Then he studied until 1951 at Arizona State University. Later he also visited the University of Utah and New York University. Finally he settled in Honolulu, where he founded the Heftel Broadcasting Company. After that, he acquired several television and radio stations in different parts of the United States. During the Second World War he was a soldier in the U.S. Army. Even after the war, he continued his business career in television and radio range.

Political career

Heftel became a member of the Democratic Party, whose Democratic National Convention he attended in 1972 as a delegate. In 1976 he was elected as a candidate of his party for the first electoral district of Hawaii in the U.S. House of Representatives. This mandate he stepped on 3 January 1977. After some re- election he was able to exercise until his resignation on 11 July 1986. He was a member of a commission that investigated the events in the Philippines and was instrumental in the ousting of President Ferdinand Marcos.

In July 1986, he resigned his seat in Congress to apply for the post of governor of Hawaii. This candidacy but failed already in the primaries of his party. Then he withdrew for a time from politics. In 1998 he volunteered again to say a word when he protested against the common practice of campaign financing.