Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.
Party affiliation: Republican
Address: 6100 S. 31st St., Lincoln
Occupation: State senator; chief executive officer, Guardian Angels Homecare
Education: Auburn High School; bachelor's degree, mechanical engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; attended Kansas Newman University, St. Mary's (Md.) University
Previous offices held: state senator, (appointed) January 2007, elected November 2008
Family: married, five children
Website: www.tonyfulton.com
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.”
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
