| Victor Soltero | |
| State Senate: | Arizona |
| District: | 29th |
| Term Start: | 2003 |
| Term End: | 2008 |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Education: | Pima Community College (attended) |
| Birth Date: | 6 August 1938 |
| Birth Place: | Globe, Arizona |
| Spouse: | Mary |
| Residence: | Tucson, Arizona |
Victor E. Soltero (born August 6, 1938) is a Democratic politician. He served as Arizona State Senator for District 29 from 2003 to 2008, and earlier from 1991 through 2000. He was a member of the Arizona House of Representatives from 2000 through 2003, and Mayor of the City of South Tucson from 1988 through 1999.[1]
Soltero was born on August 6, 1938 in Globe, Arizona, and moved to South Tucson, Arizona around the age of four.[1] [2] He graduated from Pueblo High School in Tucson, Arizona in 1957 and later attended Pima Community College.[1] Soltero worked as an aircraft electrician in the Arizona Air National Guard from 1956 to 1962 and a grounds maintenance field supervisor for the Tucson Unified School District from 1963 to 1991,[1] retiring from the latter following his appointment to the Arizona State Senate.[3]
On December 8, 1980, Soltero was appointed to the South Tucson city council on a 4–1 vote, with one abstention, to fill a two-month vacancy left by the resignation of Frank Lopez.[4] [5] He had previously served on several city committees and was on the Merit System Commission at the time.[4] [5] Soltero was twice reelected to his city council seat.[6]
On May 2, 1988, Soltero was unanimously appointed mayor of South Tucson by the city council, replacing Dan Eckstrom, the 15-year incumbent who resigned to become a Pima County Supervisor.[6] Later that year, he inaugurated the city's new municipal complex and named it after Eckstrom to honor his service to the "square-mile city".[7]
In March 1991, Soltero was one of 15 applicants who applied to represent the 10th district in the Arizona State Senate, a seat vacated by Jesus "Chuy" Higuera due to his resignation amid a corruption investigation.[8] From there, Soltero was one of three finalists recommended by a six-member citizens' committee.[9] He was appointed to fill the State Senate vacancy via a 4–1 vote by the Pima County Board of Supervisors on March 29 and sworn in on April 1 along with Armando Ruiz.[10] [11] In his first day in office, Soltero voted on 76 bills which had been backed up, including five campaign reform laws.[11] [12] "It's a little difficult, but it's like getting into any other [new] situation," he said about his eventful first day. "At first it, it seems quite a bit more difficult than it actually turns out to be."[12]
In 1992, Soltero sponsored a bill that would have appropriated $250,000 for a southside Tucson health center for victims of Trichloroethylene (TCE)-contaminated ground water.[13] [14] The TCE-contaminated area near the Tucson International Airport had previously been declared a federal Superfund site in 1983.[13]
In the 1992 election, Soltero ran unopposed in the Democratic primary[15] before defeating Libertarian challenger Arthur Kerschen in the general election.