Correction added.
Democratic candidate for Arizona Attorney General Felecia Rotellini spoke to ASU Young Democrats Friday at the Tempe Campus and told them she would like to restore integrity to the Attorney General’s office.
Rotellini has worked in the Arizona Attorney General’s office for 13 years and spent four years in the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions, under Gov. Janet Napolitano and Gov. Jan Brewer.
She ran for Attorney General against Tom Horne in 2010 and was beat by a slim margin of 3.8 points. She said she ran because the two Republican candidates were “abominations.”
“(The candidates) were people that had used their political power to abuse their positions," she said. "They used their political power for their own ideology and I did not want to see either one of those guys in such a powerful position in the Attorney General’s office."
Horne’s campaign in 2010 has come under fire recently after he was accused of violating campaign laws, spending money on Rotellini attack ads that he was not authorized to spend.
Rotellini said she believes she can win because of Horne's declining popularity in the state, her years of experience prosecuting companies that were scamming people from Arizona and the fact that does not have to compete in a primary.
“Every penny that (Horne and Mark Brnovich) raise between now and the primary they’re going to have to spend,” she said. “Whoever comes out of that primary will be bruised, battered and broke.”
She said she is confident in her campaign team to bring her to a victory in 2014, and to bring change to Arizona if she’s elected.
“We’re going to change the state, we’re going to change it one county at a time,” she said.
Rotellini pushed the fact that she is not a politician. When she first ran, she said no one had ever heard of her. She has spent her time since losing the 2010 election traveling the state, giving speeches and talking to Democrats to get her name out there.
“People are tired of politics as usual, and they are tired of underhanded shenanigans and they want leaders who are going to be role models,” she said.
Political science junior Austin Stumpf, the president of the ASU Young Democrats, said he is impressed with Rotellini’s history and the fact that she did so well in the 2010 election with no political background.
“Felecia Rotellini has a very impressive background, and I think she’s very down to earth and I think it’s very important that she’s committed her life to public service, where she could have cashed in on the private sector,” he said.
Marketing junior Zacharay Heltzel, the organization's vice president, said he is also impressed with her background and her attitude towards politics.
“I think she is extremely qualified and a very conscientious individual and that’s something that we need not just in the Attorney Generals office, but in all parts of government,” he said.
ASU College Republicans did not respond to requests for comments.
Reach the reporter at kloschia@asu.edu or on Twitter @karenlosch
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated when the last election for Attorney General took place.
