[AS3] Styling List Component

I know a thread like this has come up several times, but I still can't seem to find the answer after diving several pages into Google. Basically, I have a list component in my library and I have manually edited the CellRenderer_* clips in the library to appeal to my design. However, what I am trying to find out is if it is still possible in AS3 to do two things: Alternating Row Colors (I can live without this) and different color TextFormats for each item in the List component.

Currently, I have a way to "setStyle" a List component by overriding the ListData member of the component:

Code:

---

package com.fwd.util {
    import fl.controls.listClasses.CellRenderer;
    import fl.controls.listClasses.ICellRenderer;
        import flash.text.TextFormat;
        import fl.controls.List;

    public class ListController extends CellRenderer implements ICellRenderer {

        public function ListController():void {
            super();
        }

        public static function getStyleDefinition():Object {
            return CellRenderer.getStyleDefinition();
        }

        override protected function drawBackground():void {
                        switch (_listData.row) {
                                case 0:
                                        setStyle("textFormat", new TextFormat("Verdana", 12, 0xFFCC99));
                                        break;
                                case 1:
                                        setStyle("textFormat", new TextFormat("Verdana", 12, 0xFFCC99));                               
                                        break;
                                case 2:
                                        setStyle("textFormat", new TextFormat("Verdana", 12, 0x00CC33));                               
                                        break;
                                case 3:
                                        setStyle("textFormat", new TextFormat("Verdana", 12, 0x0066FF));                               
                                        break;
                                case "3":
                                case "4":
                                        setStyle("textFormat", new TextFormat("Verdana", 12, 0x333333));
                                        break;
                                case "5":
                                        setStyle("textFormat", new TextFormat("Verdana", 12, 0xFFFFFF));
                                        break;               
                                case "6":
                                case "7":
                                        setStyle("textFormat", new TextFormat("Verdana", 12, 0xCC9900));                                                                                                                                               
                        }
            super.drawBackground();
        }
    }
}

---

Of course, the above code works when I add it to my List component:

Code:

---

                                var itemList:List = new List();
                                        itemList.width = 200;
                                        itemList.x = 10;
                                        itemList.y = itemLabel.y + 30;
                                        itemList.setStyle("cellRenderer", ListController);
                                        newMuleTab.addChild(itemList);

---

However, the problem is this. The ListController class can't access the property of the List.addItem() object that I use to decide what TextFormat to use for the CellRenderer (The above is an example so it compiles. The object member I plan on using is "type" i.e. _listData.type throws an error). Has anyone done a workaround for this type of thing before? The application I'm writing really hinges on having different color text in the List component.