{"id":20606,"date":"2017-02-03T17:27:29","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T23:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=20606"},"modified":"2017-02-03T17:27:29","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T23:27:29","slug":"lowe-sets-up-shop-in-the-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=20606","title":{"rendered":"Lowe sets up shop in the Legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Sen. John Lowe and his wife Kim traveled to Hawaii last year with their sons to renew their vows after 25 years of marriage.<\/em><\/p>\n

As he settles into his first legislative session, you won\u2019t find Sen. John Lowe of Kearney spending too much time decorating his new work space. Despite having one of the smaller offices in the Capitol, he\u2019s still getting used to having so much room and natural light.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t really have a traditional office when you\u2019re starting a business from the ground up,\u201d he said. \u201cAll my offices have been a folding table in a dingy basement. This is grand in comparison.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowe\u2019s business acumen is a family trait, passed down through the generations.<\/p>\n

His great-grandfather crossed the Atlantic from Liverpool, England and settled the family in the Kearney area in 1883. The Lowes have made their mark on the town\u2019s landscape, working in the local real estate industry for over 100 years.<\/p>\n

His experience in the family business inspired him to broaden his horizons into other business ventures. A self-proclaimed \u201cjack of all trades,\u201d Lowe says he\u2019s owned and operated just about every kind of business one man can, buying and selling seven businesses over the years.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a pretty good chance that he is the only bar owner\/restauranteur\/frozen-yogurt purveyor\/document-imaging company owner\/real estate agent to serve in the Legislature.<\/p>\n

Call it his entrepreneurial spirit, but Lowe is much happier and more comfortable when he\u2019s busy. This has absolutely helped him transition into his role as state senator, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing here at the State Capitol is definitely an adjustment, but I\u2019m still busy \u2014 it\u2019s just a new kind of busy. Instead of working for myself, now I\u2019m working for my constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he felt compelled to run for the Legislature to help address the problems facing Nebraskans each day. High property taxes and expanding government are the issues that are impacting his constituents, the people he\u2019s known his entire life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided to run because I was breaking all my televisions and radios at home,\u201d he laughed. \u201cI was frustrated with the way our government was functioning. I realized I wasn\u2019t solving any problems in my living room.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he definitely senses an urgency from his friends and neighbors to act, Lowe takes a more measured approach. He understands issues that have been building for years cannot be fixed overnight with a stroke of a pen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Legislature doesn\u2019t move fast and that\u2019s a good thing,\u201d he said. \u201cWe should take our time, be methodical and make well informed decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowe said he often benefits from the advice of his family, including wife Kim and sons John, Robert and Patrick. They\u2019ve encouraged him to keep his head on straight and never lose sight of his values when legislating, which he intends to take to heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere won\u2019t be a bust of me in the hallway when my time in the Legislature is over,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m just a common guy who wants to represent the people well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As he settles into his first legislative session, you won\u2019t find Sen. John Lowe of Kearney spending too much time decorating his new work space. Despite having one of the smaller offices in the Capitol, he\u2019s still getting used to having so much room and natural light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20600,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[176],"class_list":["post-20606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senator-features","tag-sen-john-lowe"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/MeetLowe_blog.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20606"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20613,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20606\/revisions\/20613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}