SACRAMENTO (AP) — Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin, who is regarded as the Republican Party’s best hope for winning a statewide office in November, introduced herself on Tuesday as an outsider who would bring fiscal independence as California’s state controller.Swearengin said during an appearance at the Sacramento Press Club that she is the best person for managing the state’s finances because she would not have to cater to the demands of Democrats, California’s majority party.“I think I’m the right person for the job because I believe this job requires independence, free from one political party, a major political party in power here in Sacramento,” Swearengin said. “I think we need an outsider.”Swearengin finished first in the June primary and is running against Democrat Betty Yee, a member of the state Board of Equalization. Yee edged out former Assembly Speaker John Perez, a Los Angeles Democrat, by just 481 votes out of nearly 4.5 million votes cast in the race.Swearengin, 42, touted her experience pleading California’s fifth largest city with 3,200 workers.Elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012, Swearengin focused on her experience managing Fresno’s finances amid the recession, taking both short-term and long-term actions to prevent municipal bankruptcy.She said one of the highlights of her tenure was zeroing out negative fund balances in city accounts.Swearengin contrasted herself with Yee, 56, a longtime legislative and administrative staffer before being elected to the five-member tax commission in 2006.“Being the direct elected executive is very different from being a government staffer, a quasi-legislative function, it’s different,” Swearengin said.