Rep. Phil Lopes

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PHOENIX — Bow tie-wearing state Rep. Phil Lopes is back this year for his seventh session in the Legislature.

But the Tucson Democrat, who represents West Side District 27, is no longer the leader of House Democrats. Lopes says that unexpected demotion has given him more time to study bills and focus on his big issue, health care.

A two-minute Q and A:

Question: So what's up with the bow tie? People want to know.

Answer: About, maybe, 15 years ago, I was in a hotel in Minneapolis, and there was a men's store there that was going out of business. They had some bow ties and I thought, "That would be kind of interesting." So I bought one or two.

Q: And it caught on?

A: And it caught on. ... When I went to the Legislature, I decided that was all I was going to wear because politicians, pediatricians and professors — those are the people who wear bows. The three Ps.

Q: How is it different being a rank-and-file member as opposed to being in leadership?

A: I have a lot more time. I have a lot more time to study bills.

Q: Is this the toughest legislative session you've been through so far?

A: Oh yeah, and it's the worst. When we finished that 2 a.m. session (to pass the 2009 budget fix), I came home and said to my wife, "This is not why I wanted to be in the state Legislature." We're destroying universities and public education.

Q: Why did you want to be here?

A: To show and to prove that government could be efficient, well-intended and beneficial to people. And contrary to the Ronald Reagan view that government is the problem.