Eric T. Schneiderman says he knows governmental dysfunction when he sees it, and he has seen more of it than any other candidate seeking the Democratic nomination for state attorney general.

In a year when voters are said to be fed up by the spectacle of one scandal after another in Albany, most of Mr. Schneiderman’s rivals are quick to tout their “outsider” status. But after 11 frustrating years in the state Senate, Mr. Schneiderman says that his experience as a legislator on the inside of state government has given him unique insights about how he can use the attorney general’s office to restore New Yorkers’ confidence in state government.