Fulton Campaigning Strong in Stromsburg

York News-Times | By Kate Burke on April 12th, 2010

STROMSBURG — “OK, no stories!”

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.