Residents will have the opportunity this weekend to meet the Democratic candidates for governor and attorney general, Fred DuVal and Felecia Rotellini.

Legislative District 23 Democrats will be hosting these candidates at the Fountain Hills School District Learning Center at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 15.

All Fountain Hills residents are welcome to hear these candidates discuss their vision for Arizona and to ask questions following.

Light refreshments will be served.

Fred DuVal

DuVal is an Arizona business and education leader.

Raised in Tucson, DuVal’s father founded and led the medical school at the University of Arizona. After he graduated from Tucson High School, he received his B.A. from Occidental College and moved home to Arizona to build a life.

He worked for Governor Bruce Babbitt where he helped with the development of Arizona’s groundwater legislation, created the state Medicaid system and set record levels of education funding.

He served as the Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs in Bill Clinton’s White House. DuVal helped negotiate the historic tobacco settlement that improved the nation’s health and lowered the cost of care for the uninsured.

More recently, DuVal worked in the renewable energy business and was a member of the Arizona Board of Regents.

As chairman of the Board, DuVal proposed and delivered the first zero tuition increase in modern Arizona history and he pioneered a new funding model that received national acclaim.

DuVal and his wife Jennifer live in Phoenix with their five-year-old son. Their older son, Will, attends college and is an ROTC cadet.

Felecia Rotellini

Rotellini is a veteran prosecutor and consumer advocate with 27 years of experience in private and public law.

Although best known for her work on the Baptist Foundation of Arizona (BFA) case, she already had earned a reputation as a financial watchdog and criminal prosecutor.

The daughter of first generation Americans, Rotellini grew up in Sheridan, Wyo. and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Mont.

Arizona has been her home since 1986 after her graduation from Notre Dame Law School. She is a member of the Arizona and Wyoming State Bars.

Rotellini joined the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, serving under Attorneys General Grant Woods, Janet Napolitano and Terry Goddard where she was known for her willingness to take on large companies.

She was the state’s lead litigator in its investigation of Arthur Andersen over the accounting giant’s services to the Baptist Foundation of Arizona.

She was appointed as superintendent of the State Banking Department, now the Department of Financial Institutions (DFI).

Rotellini worked with the Arizona Legislature and leaders in the mortgage industry to pass a law that requires mortgage loan officers to be licensed.

In late August 2009, she resigned her post as superintendent to join the Phoenix law firm of Zwillinger & Greek PC. She has practiced in the private sector since then. In 2010, she ran for Arizona attorney general. She was the top Democratic vote-getter in Arizona.