{"id":250,"date":"2009-03-05T16:11:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-05T22:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/linux\/wordpress\/?p=250"},"modified":"2017-04-06T13:35:51","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T19:35:51","slug":"sen-mello-brings-youthful-perspective-to-the-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=250","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Mello brings youthful perspective to the Legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Sen. Mello and then-fiancee Catherine Leo take in an outdoor event in Omaha’s Heartland Park.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sen. Heath Mello describes himself as a scrappy basketball player. The kind of player who hustles, works hard to learn the fundamentals, stays late at practice and goes the extra mile. It\u2019s not just about natural ability, Mello said; it\u2019s about dedication and heart.<\/p>\n

After spending time with Mello, one suspects that scrappy also might describe his approach to lawmaking. The key, he said, is to work hard and do the basic things well. The end result may not be the limelight, but others will recognize your contribution.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t get the glory, but others want you on the team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a mindset that Mello learned from his hard-working parents while growing up in the Omaha area. He said his father was a machinist and union man, his mother a self-described \u201cblue collar\u201d worker.<\/p>\n

His parents were working-class Democrats, but the nonpartisan spirit that Mello has encountered at the Unicameral was the rule in his parent\u2019s house as well. Mello described a dinner conversation when he was seven- or eight-years-old, during which he expressed admiration for President Reagan.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad managed to find something positive to say,\u201d Mello laughed. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want to discourage my interest in politics, so he acknowledged that Reagan was a good public speaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mello\u2019s political inspirations come from both the state and national stages, and he said two men in particular exemplify approaches to politics that he greatly admires: Robert Kennedy and Ben Nelson.<\/p>\n

\u201cKennedy was a man who had an expansive vision of what government could do and should do,\u201d Mello said. \u201cHe had an idealism that was incredibly inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mello was lucky enough to work closely with his other inspiration, serving as a senior aid to U.S. Senator Ben Nelson. Mello said Nelson exemplifies a more down-to-earth approach to politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s pragmatic and solution oriented,\u201d Mello said. \u201cIt\u2019s not the glamorous side of politics, but it\u2019s just as important, if not more so.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Mello has learned a few things about the unglamorous side of being in the Legislature \u2013 among them, time management skills. Finding time for his fianc\u00e9, church and other volunteer community service, keeping up with a number of books, newspapers and blogs and maintaining constituent connections has been challenging. But it\u2019s a challenge Mello embraces.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more time you spend with people, the better able you are to represent them,\u201d Mello said. \u201cIt\u2019s all part of the balance that public life requires.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 29, Mello narrowly missed out on the distinction of being the youngest member of this session\u2019s freshman class. He said he was concerned initially about facing an uphill battle with voters due to his age, but was pleasantly surprised.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe campaign proved that my constituents weren\u2019t concerned about my age,\u201d Mello said. \u201cThe campaign was less about age and more about the perspective that one brings.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Mello is excited about the perspective the entire new class of senators brings to the Unicameral; it\u2019s one of the reasons that he decided to run for a seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed like a good time for new ideas,\u201d Mello said. \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for the next generation to bring a new voice to the state\u2019s problems.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sen. Heath Mello describes himself as a scrappy basketball player. The kind of player who hustles, works hard to learn the fundamentals, stays late at practice and goes the extra mile. It\u2019s not just about natural ability, Mello said; it\u2019s about dedication and heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21394,"comment_status":"open","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":true,"_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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[167,18],"tags":[215],"class_list":["post-250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-senator-features","tag-sen-mello-and"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/MeetMello_blog2017.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250","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=250"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21717,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions\/21717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}