Phil Lopes

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We endorse Democrat Phil Lopes and Green Party candidate Kent Solberg for the state House in District 27.

Both Lopes and Solberg have forward-looking plans and ideas to bring to the next legislative session.

Three other candidates are vying for the two seats: incumbent Democrat Olivia Cajero Bedford, Republican J.D. "Duke" Schechter and Libertarian Mark Phelps.

Lopes has served six years in the House and is its minority leader. He has served on the appropriations and health committees.

Solberg, who has lived in the district for 37 years, has a master's in social work from Arizona State University. He has a long history of neighborhood and community activism and is co-owner of Kent's Tools on East Grant Road.

Both Lopes and Solberg are committed to improving public education in Arizona, which ranks 49th in the nation in funding.

Lopes calls public education "the great democratizer."

"It's the heart of our society and we need to put more effort into improving the public-education system. We need smaller class sizes, especially in K-3, and we need to get out of teachers' hair," he told the Star's editorial board.

Solberg noted that Arizona has a higher dropout rate than 48 other states. "We also have the lowest per-capita spending," he said.

"This has to be fixed from within. We need more money for teachers," Solberg said. "We need programs to encourage parents to learn and read with kids before they begin school. If you hook them before K-3, you have them for life."

Both candidates also support a state guest-worker program for immigrants.

"I believe you have to take a humanitarian and an economic approach," Solberg said. "They pay taxes. The economic benefits far outweigh the costs. I believe they actually add jobs to the state because they are consumers."

Lopes said studies confirm that undocumented workers contribute to the economy. Though he favors a state guest-worker program, he predicted the federal government would stand in the way.

On the state's fiscal '09 budget, which is sinking deeply into the red, Solberg said he would not make cuts in education, social services or health programs. He would defer some programs and some construction.

Lopes said lawmakers need to continue making cuts, deferring programs and sweeping state agency budgets for needed funds until the cyclical state economy "swings back in our favor."

"We are way too dependent on sales taxes, we have no property tax and a very low income tax," he said. "It makes us very vulnerable."

Lopes said the government must play a key role in economic development and job creation.

Solberg said Arizona "needs to be the world's leader in solar energy and it's to our shame that we are not."

Lopes and Solberg are well-informed and committed to searching for solutions for their constituents and we recommend them for the House in Legislative District 27.