DENVER -- In a letter obtained by the CALL7 Investigators, the embattled nominee for U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado defended her actions during the 2006 gubernatorial campaign.

The letter, dated Nov. 19, is addressed to U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo.

In it, Stephanie Villafuerte vehemently denied breaking any federal law and explained her role in a controversy surrounding a television commercial aired by the campaign of Gov. Bill Ritter's opponent, Bob Beauprez.

Villafuerte worked in a key position in Ritter's campaign for governor.

The commercial accused Ritter of being soft on immigration and offered specifics from the case of Walter Noel Ramo (aka: Carlos Estrada Medina). According to the ad, Ramo was given probation after a plea deal, by then District Attorney Ritter, only to move to California where he was accused of sexually assaulting a minor.

Critics accuse Villafuerte of using her influence within the Denver District Attorney's Office to obtain information from a confidential federal database in an attempt to discredit the ad.

"For three years she's been stonewalling answering the questions or answering them differently to what it appears that the facts would prove out," said state Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch.

Harvey and nine other Republican state senators sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary asking the committee to force Villafuerte to answer questions about her role, if any, in the controversy.

In her letter, Villafuerte said she tried to verify the information used in the Beauprez ad by accessing only publicly available databases.

"I had no direct access to confidential criminal databases, nor would I seek such access through any means," wrote Villafuerte. She explained that she used the Colorado Bureau of Investigation criminal database, which is open for public use, as well as Denver District Court files and California court records.

Addressing critics accusations, Villafuerte wrote: "This conjecture assumes that if I wanted to determine that the Beauprez Campaign was illegally access the NCIC database, I myself had to access the information in that database. This assumption is simply false. In fact, my conclusion that the Beauprez Campaign ad contained information from the NCIC database was based upon... information that I knew was available only from the NCIC database."

One example included an admission from the Beauprez Campaign that the ad could be corroborated by looking at information that, she claimed, is only on the NCIC database.

A federal agent was charged with illegally accessing the confidential database and providing the information later used by the Beauprez campaign.

The agent, Cory Voorhis, was acquitted.

Citing Denver Post articles and editorials, Villafuerte said there were two basic questions: "Did I obtain NCIC information from the Denver District Attorney's Office in my effort to verify that the Beauprez Campaign had accessed the NCIC database to create the October 10 ad? The answer is emphatically 'no.'"

"Was I honest when I told FBI agents that I did not have conversations with anyone at the Denver District Attorney's Office regarding the Ramo/Estrada Medina case? The answer is absolutely 'yes.'"

Villafuerte also offered explanations for phone calls to members of the Denver District Attorney's Office during that week in Oct. 2006.

The calls, which raised questions by critics and reporters, were to the Public Information Officer for the District Attorney's office, Lynn Kimbrough, and Deputy District Attorney, Chuck Lepley.

In the letter, Villafuerte said she could not recall the substance of a 14-minute phone conversation with Lepley on Oct. 12 and that she is uncertain if she and Lepley spoke in a two minute call, on the same day.

However, Villafuerte wrote, "I did not discuss the Ramo/Estrada Medina matter with Mr. Lepley on October 12, October 13, or at any other time."

Villafuerte said she only left messages on Kimbrough's phone asking for publicly available information on the case, and that the two never had a conversation about it.

In closing her letter, Villafuerte wrote, "I have been fully cooperative with CBI and FBI officials."

On orders from the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Villafuerte is not permitted to speak publicly about the case at this time.

Read Villafuerte Senate Letter.