North Platte Mayor Marc Kaschke announced his endorsement of State Senator Tony Fulton for State Treasurer during a press conference on Friday.

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By DIANE WETZEL

The North Platte Telegraph

Driving across the state during the final days leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, State Treasurer candidate Tony Fulton refuses to use his Bluetooth to make campaign calls when it is windy. Fulton will bring the same responsible and conservative attitude to the treasurer’s office, said North Platte Mayor Marc Kaschke, announcing he has endorsed the state senator from Lincoln as the best man for the job.

“He is a longtime friend and I’ve always valued his advice,” Kaschke said. “He has done a very responsible job as part of the Legislature’s appropriations committee in balancing the state’s budget.”

Fulton, who will face off against Don Stenberg and Tom Nesbitt in the primary election, said Kaschke’s endorsement was an honor.

“It’s a big deal,” Fulton said. “The mayor of any city in Nebraska puts a face on a city. I know how Marc envisions government and how he treats the taxpayers dollars in a responsible way.”

Appointed to the Legislature to complete State Auditor Mike Foley’s term in district 29, Fulton will be term limited out of office in 2012.

“I want to put my experience to work, not just take it home with me,” Fulton said.

Polls show many undecided voters in the State Treasurer’s race,

“We have campaigned all along as if we were behind,” Fulton said. “I don’t see myself running against anyone, but for the job.”

Stenberg is a well-known figure in Nebraska politics, serving as the state’s attorney general.

“My opponent has had a 32-year head start, having been in the public eye for 32 years,” Fulton said. “I have supported Don in the past. What I am saying is that if Nebraskans are ready to hand over the mantle of leadership to someone with a fresh perspective, I’m ready.”

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The race for the Republican nomination to succeed Shane Osborn as state treasurer is one of the most closely contested battles in the Nebraska primary.

The race features former Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg, former Nebraska State Patrol head Tom Nesbitt and Tony Fulton, state senator from the 29th district in south Lincoln. Mark Stoj of Omaha is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

All are strong candidates. Stenberg has the edge in political experience. Nesbitt even worked temporarily in the treasurer’s office helping find people for whom the state was holding unclaimed property.

We think that Fulton is the best choice for the office, which keeps track of the state’s money, returns unclaimed property, handles the flow of child support and oversees the state’s college savings and long-term care savings plans.

At age 37, Fulton introduces himself as someone who represents the “next generation of leadership” for Nebraska. Like his competitors, Fulton opposes a measure that will be on the November ballot to eliminate the office, arguing that the treasurer should be accountable to voters.

Good with details, self-described as a person with a predilection for numbers, Fulton is a member of the Appropriations Committee.

The experience he has gained in that role should be helpful if he is elected state treasurer. In Nebraska’s one-house Legislature, Appropriations Committee members spend dozens of hours every session poring over the state budget and determining priorities.

It’s a testament to the committee’s work that it often is approved by the full Legislature with only minor tweaking. In a recent session, Fulton was instrumental in helping reduce budget cuts proposed for the University of Nebraska.

During Fulton’s tenure on the committee, it has pulled off the rare accomplishment of presiding over both the state’s biggest budget surplus and its biggest tax cut.

Not surprisingly, Fulton said his proudest achievement as a state senator is the work that he has done as a member of that committee.

“I understand the office, and I know the office’s budget intimately through my service on the Appropriations Committee,” he said.

That familiarity shows in a highly technical bill he introduced this session. Approved by the Legislature, the new law smoothed and made more transparent the transfer of funds used for the operation and administration of the Nebraska educational savings plan trust.

Fulton also gained some renown for sponsoring legislation to increase the use of interlock devices in Nebraska. The machines, which prevent a driver from starting a vehicle if he or she has been drinking, have proved effective in reducing drunken driving.

Fulton was educated as a mechanical engineer and has worked full-time in the field. He now owns and manages Guardian Angels Homecare, a business that cares primarily for elderly Nebraskans.

His background and abilities make Fulton the best choice among the Republican candidates for state treasurer to move on to the general election.

In November, Nebraska voters will decide on a ballot measure that would abolish the Treasurer’s Office by January 2015. If voters say “yes” to that proposal, the winner of the general election for treasurer will preside over a four-year transition toward elimination of the office he supervises and directs.

The Treasurer’s Office is the conduit for most of the funds coming into state government. When Nebraskans choose a state treasurer, they are electing someone to oversee that financial processing. Among the treasurer’s other duties: Returning unclaimed property. Overseeing the college savings program. Handling child support collections and disbursements.

Incumbent Treasurer Shane Osborn is not seeking re-election. The candidate field consists of three Republicans (who are competing in the party primary on Tuesday) and a Democrat.

Among the Republicans in the primary, our view is that voters would be best served by selecting either of two contenders: Tony Fulton, a state senator from Lincoln; or Don Stenberg, a former state attorney general.

In an interview at The World-Herald, Fulton was articulate and forceful in talking about his background as state lawmaker and small-business owner and about the operations of the Treasurer’s Office.

Fulton, a mechanical engineer and number-cruncher, pointed to his service on the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, which has focused closely on fiscal restraint. Strict accountability and transparency to the public are among the central obligations of the Treasurer’s Office, he stressed.

When asked about the proposal to abolish the treasurer’s post, Fulton offered a strong analysis of what voters should consider. Nebraskans should be wary of exuberant claims of cost savings, he said.

Stenberg has deep experience in Nebraska state government and has demonstrated his sure-handedness as a manager. During his 12 years as state attorney general, he showed that he could manage his department efficiently, operating energetically on the third-smallest operating budget among the 50 state attorneys general.

Stenberg, who holds a law degree as well as an MBA from Harvard, ably analyzes key administrative aspects of the State Treasurer’s Office. He rightly emphasizes ways to ensure that customers’ needs are handled professionally and courteously.

Stenberg demonstrates a keen mind and professional competence. There seems little doubt that he could step into the treasurer’s role and handle the duties with the needed steadiness.

In the Republican primary for state treasurer, voters would be best served by supporting either Tony Fulton or Don Stenberg.

By Sarah Schulz
sarah.schulz@theindependent.com

State Sen. Tony Fulton believes his budget knowledge and experience on the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee make him the best candidate for the state treasurer position.

Fulton was born and raised in Auburn and now lives in Lincoln with his wife, Judy, and their six children, who range in age from 7 months to 11 years old. He was appointed to the Legislature in 2006 and was elected in 2008.

He studied mechanical engineering in college and had no aspirations for higher office until he became involved in a pro-life political campaign in college and got his first salaried job.

He now runs his own business, Guardian Angels Homecare, which deals with caring for the elderly.

As a freshman senator, Fulton was appointed to the Appropriations Committee, which works with balancing the state’s budget. He said he likes numbers and believes the knowledge he has gained in the position would be a boon to the treasurer’s office.

“The treasurer watches the state’s checkbook and we need to be able to communicate with Nebraskans about how their money is spent,” he said. “I’ve been doing that for four years. It’s a good fit.”

A constitutional amendment before Nebraska voters in November’s general election would eliminate the state treasurer’s office after one final four-year term. Fulton doesn’t think doing away with the office is a good idea. He understands the need and desire to streamline government and cut costs. He has done research and believes folding the duties of the treasurer’s office into the Department of Administrative Services wouldn’t save any money. He also said the responsibilities of the office would remain and are outlined in state statute. So the work, such as the collection and dispersion of child support and unclaimed property, would still have to be done unless a lot of time and money was spent changing the laws.

In addition, eliminating the treasurer’s position would weaken the people’s power, he said. If the office is not headed by an elected official, the public loses their say, he said.

If chosen as state treasurer, Fulton said, he will work for accountability, responsibility and transparency. He believes accountability is important because many people don’t feel represented with their current government. He would see himself as an employee of the people.

The responsibility would come with crafting budgets to maintain and improve Nebraska’s financial health, he said.

Finally, the transparency would come into play with various technical aspects designed to inform the public of government’s actions. For example, Fulton would expand on NebraskaSpending.com, a Web site that gives people access to government information. He would also use social media to disseminate information to the public.

Fulton also wants to “beef up” the long-term care savings plan, which is administered by the state treasurer’s office. In 2005, he was selected to represent Nebraska at the White House Conference on Aging and, through his work in his small business, he has concluded that Medicaid can’t be sustained. He wants to spread the word about the state’s long-term care savings plan to give people more options.

“Nebraskans need to wake up,” he said. “If they don’t like what’s going on in Washington, they only have themselves to blame. It’s our government and Nebraskans need to pay attention. We are losing our country,” he said.

OMAHA, Neb. — Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle said he’ll do all he can to bring the city and the police union back to negotiations after talks broke down Tuesday when council members rejected the union’s latest offer.The mayor said negotiations will resume Friday without the presence of council members. He’s hoping the talks will head off any action by the Commission of Industrial Relations, which resolves public sector labor disputes.The police union’s executive board met Tuesday night and filed with the commission after talks broke down.Suttle said the legal action could cost the city $5 million in lost wages.”That’s a cost we have no source with which to cover,” Suttle said.State Sen. Tony Fulton, who’s behind a legislative bill that would reform the CIR, said taxpayers could foot a big bill if the dispute goes to the commission.For example, the rejected contract called for wage freezes for police, but the commission could demand instead that the city actually pay retroactive raises to police.Costing the city now is the fact that police continue to work under their old contract, which allows for pension spiking. The $500 million pension shortfall is also going unaddressed.

LINCOLN — When Tony Fulton got his first paycheck from a Lincoln boiler company, he noticed something. Some of his salary was missing.

Curiosity over payroll taxes spurred the college student’s interest in government and public service.

“I remember feeling, ‘That’s not fair,’” he said. “Why is it that government gets that much?”

Fulton became active in both anti-abortion organizations at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and in Republican politics, eventually becoming the party’s Lancaster County chairman.

In January 2007, when State Sen. Mike Foley resigned to become state auditor, Gov. Dave Heineman appointed Fulton to serve the south-central Lincoln district.

Now the Auburn, Neb., native hopes to parlay his work as a lawmaker and a conservative member of the Appropriations Committee into election as state treasurer. Term limits would have forced him to leave the Legislature in two more years.

“I like public service, and I think the treasurer’s seat is one that would fit my background,” said Fulton, who holds a mechanical engineering degree from UNL. “I like numbers.”

In 2003, he launched Guardian Angels Homecare, which provides nonmedical helpers to assist the elderly with meals, bathing, transportation and other needs. The company, he said, has 90 part-time employees who help 80 clients.

“It’s not only satisfying financially but emotionally. It helps the elderly remain independent and stay at home and provides some companionship,” he said.

As a state lawmaker, he said, his proudest accomplishment was helping the Appropriations Committee craft balanced budgets without tax increases. This year, Fulton also sponsored a nonbinding resolution to urge the federal government to respect state sovereignty, particularly when it comes to mandates like the new federal health care law.

Voters, he emphasizes, will be picking “one of the future leaders” in the treasurer’s race.

“If they’re willing to hand it off to the next generation of leadership,” Fulton said, “I’m their choice.”

Pataki is leading Revere America, an effort to get one million signatures on a petition to repeal the health care reform bill.

About 50 people packed the conference room in the Cornhusker Hotel to participate in the rally and sign the petition, taking their stand against the health care legislation. And although the bill has already passed, Pataki says the movement can still have an effect.

“We started in front of the Old North Church, where Paul Revere began his ride and we wanted to stop in Nebraska because the Cornhusker Kickback is an example of how corrupt the process was to pass this bill,” Pataki said.

Every level of government was represented locally, including Lieutenant Governor Rick Sheehy, and State Senator Tony Fulton.

“He started this in Nebraska probably because of Senator Nelson being the 60th vote to pass this. And so Nebraska can be the first to repeal it,” Fulton said.

Lincoln City Council Member Adam Hornung also showed his support of the repeal.

“An overwhelming majority of Americans are saying, we don’t want this, this is not something we want. This a perfect example of that,” said Hornung.

But protesters outside the Cornhusker disagreed. State Director of Organizing for America Timothy Anderson brought community members out with signs, sticking up for the president’s bill.

“We are celebrating the passage of the historic health insurance reform legislation, which extends coverage to 33 million Americans. But we’re also standing together for health insurance reform,” said Anderson.

Zach Smith, a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is a community organizer for Organizing for America. He also supports Obama’s health care reform.

“It allows me to stay on my parents’ insurance until age 26. There’s just benefit upon benefit in this bill, and what’s more, it’s moderate. It preserves the private insurance system. And that’s something that people like George Pataki don’t seem to understand,” Smith said.

Pataki told the protesters he appreciated their involvement, but says if you disagree with the health care bill, it’s up to you to make reform happen.

“We’ve seen that we have a government that won’t listen to the people. And if we let this stand, it’s just going to continue. They’re going to continue to ignore the voters, to ignore the wishes of the people,” Pataki said.

The Republican raised $408,000 during the first three months of the year for a total of $1.6 million collected for his re-election bid.

Reports filed Monday also showed that the three-way race for the GOP nomination for state treasurer remains competitive.

Heineman’s opponent, Omaha businessman and political newcomer Mark Lakers, declined to release his fundraising numbers Monday, the deadline for state candidates to file or mail campaign reports to the State Accountability and Disclosure Commission.

A Democrat, Lakers jumped into the race in mid-February. He has said that he would lend his campaign $50,000 and that he hoped to reach $300,000 in this time period.

The reports that were due Monday cover the period from Jan. 1 through April 6.

Heineman said his efforts to raise money underscore his determination to work the race like an underdog. “We’re not taking anything for granted.”

He also said he isn’t finished raising money. “I’m going to prepare for a race that could cost two to three million dollars.”

In the treasurer’s race, former Attorney General Don Stenberg, State Sen. Tony Fulton and former State Patrol Superintendent Tom Nesbitt are competing for the right to succeed outgoing State Treasurer Shane Osborn.

Fulton led the race for cash, raising a total of $81,000 for his campaign. That included $29,000 during this quarter. Stenberg was close behind with $61,000, including $43,000 raised this quarter.

Nesbitt followed with a total of $40,000, including $19,000 raised this quarter.

One e-mail writer said he was tired of “Washington trying to ram a liberal agenda down his throat.” Another was more succinct: “With all due respect sir, you are a scum bag.”

But Nebraska senators were more thoughtful and their language more refined during less than an hour of debate Tuesday on the tension between states’ rights and federal power.

States are standing up and asserting their unique rights as sovereign states, said Lincoln Sen. Tony Fulton, sponsor of the measure (LR539) about other similar resolutions passed in other states.

His resolution, which passed 39-3, encourages Congress to “adhere to the principles of federalism.”

There is no balance currently, and senators need to stand up for states’ rights, Fulton said.

“We are not a subsidiary of the federal government. We are connected to our federal government, obviously, but sovereign,” he said.

Fulton said his resolution was not intended to be partisan. The growing power of the federal government has happened under many watches, he said. Though most senators voted for the resolution, none talked about specific issues they believed the federal government had usurped.

Only when specifically asked did Fulton point to three federal actions he believes are beyond the scope of the federal government: No Child Left Behind education mandates of the Bush administration, recent health care legislation and the federal bailouts.

Instead, discussion centered on the history of the Ninth and 10th amendments and states’ rights.

States’ rights has a murky history, used by Southern states to defend their right to allow slavery, Avery said. “States’ rights” was used as code for segregation during the civil rights era, he said.

Omaha Sen. Brenda Council pointed out that the states’ rights argument was used to prevent blacks from voting until federal law intervened.

Perhaps it is coincidental that this resolution is being introduced when a black man holds the highest office, she said. “I hope that is not at the core of this resolution,” she said.

American citizens have accepted that the final arbitrator of what is constitutional and what is not is the Supreme Court, said Sen. Ken Haar of Malcolm, one of three senators who voted against the resolution and its message to Congress. Council and Omaha Sen. Tanya Cook also voted no.

“If the message is we can turn back the clock, it is a hollow message. If the message is we can pick and choose which federal laws to follow, it is a hollow message,” said Haar.

Sen. Russ Karpisek of Wilber pointed out the hypocrisy of senators, including himself, who criticize the federal government on one hand, while “pushing (state) laws down the throats of local cities and citizens.”

Tony Fulton, Nebraska State Senator representing District 29, and a Republican candidate for State Treasurer, raised a laugh with his quick response to an audience member who said she had family members in Fulton’s home town of Auburn, Neb.

A few dozen people turned out to hear Fulton campaign at the Stromsburg American Legion hall on Thursday, April 8.

Heads nodded regularly as Fulton touched on subjects he said concern all Nebraskans these days.

Fulton was first appointed to the District 29 seat by Gov. Dave Heineman in 2006. He was since elected to it by his constituents.

Should he be elected Treasurer, Fulton promised to bring ART to the office: Accountability, Responsibility and Transparency.

“I fully realize these words get thrown around like candy,” he said.

He explained “accountability” through the current national health care debate. The vote in Congress, he contended, did not reflect the will of the people.

“Those who are represented don’t feel represented by those representing,” Fulton said.

Accountability, he implied, means honest representation. Fulton said he keeps the phrase “Non sum dignus” — “I am not worthy” — in his legislature office as a reminder that he represents and serves others.

The plaque bearing the phrase, he said, would move with him to the Treasurer’s office.

Fulton praised Nebraska’s current level of “responsibility.”

Fiscally, he said, “Nebraska is in better shape than most other states, and it’s not an accident.”

By law, Nebraska’s planned budget must be balanced. Fulton compared Nebraska, which, he said, currently has a reserve of $321 million, to California, which is issuing IOUs.

“Discipline, prudence and hard work” are what made this possible, Fulton said. “We are not ‘fortunate.’”

In the budgeting process, he said, legislators have to listen to all sides, then “make what’s coming in match what’s going out.”

As State Treasurer, he said, he would continue to uphold this responsibility.

Regarding “transparency,” Fulton said the term tends to provoke a cynical reaction these days, but he takes the concept seriously.

He praised current Treasurer Shane Osborn’s efforts to bring greater transparency to the Treasurer’s office. Osborn’s Web site, www.nebraskaspending.gov, Fulton noted, was seen as a valuable tool for transparency, and maintaining it was made part of the Treasurer’s official duties by the legislature.

The Web site, combined with the fact that almost every aspect of the Nebraska legislative process is open to all Nebraskans via streaming video at www.netnebraska.org, Fulton said, makes senators “behave differently” when dealing with the state’s $6.7 billion budget.

As Treasurer, Fulton said, he would promote further transparency through social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Fulton addressed the possibility that the Treasurer’s office could be abolished through an amendment ballot this fall.

To do so, he contended, would be a “terrible idea.”

The Treasurer’s position, Fulton said, is one of very few state-wide positions filled by popular vote, making the Treasurer accountable to the people of Nebraska.

By law, the Treasurer’s duties are specific and limited, Fulton said.

The Treasurer acts as the state comptroller, “Treasury management,” Fulton summarized.

The office also manages the state’s long-term care savings plan, the 529 college savings plan, and the unclaimed property division.

The Treasurer’s office oversees the receipt and disbursing of child support, and, as noted above, maintains nebraskaspending.gov.

To abolish the office, Fulton said, is to spread the Treasurer’s duties among a handful of “faceless bureaucrats” among several state agencies, including the Department of Revenue, which, Fulton noted, has grown in recent years, while the Treasurer’s office has shrunk.

The Revenue department, Fulton said, starts from a different mandate: to increase state revenues.

Fulton questioned whether that mandate could be reconciled with the Treasurer’s mandate to manage the state treasury. He questioned whether the Department of Revenue would be as zealous about returning unclaimed property to its owners.

Fulton also questioned how the Treasurer’s functions, now spread among unelected bureaucrats, could maintain accountability, responsibility and transparency.

While expressing respect for the two other Republicans, Tom Nesbitt and Don Stenberg, vying for the Treasurer’s nomination in the May primary, Fulton sought to distinguish himself from them.

His legislative and business experience, combined with his current experience serving on the Appropriations Committee in the legislature, makes him better qualified than Nesbitt, the former superintendent of the Nebraska State Patrol, Fulton said.

Stenberg’s service as the former Nebraska Attorney General is commendable, Fulton said, but “If we’re ready to hand this off to the next generation of leaders, I’m the guy.”

Fulton has a mechanical engineering degree from the University Nebraska – Lincoln. His business, Guardian Angels Homecare, employs about 90 people in providing in-home care for the elderly.

Tony Fulton and his wife, Judy, have six children.