Fulton to Bring Business and Legislative Experience as State Treasurer

Grand Island Independent | By Sarah Schulz on May 6th, 2010

Fulton wants to bring his business, legislative experience to treasurer position

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.