{"id":439,"date":"2009-04-23T15:16:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-23T21:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/linux\/wordpress\/?p=439"},"modified":"2017-04-06T13:33:56","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T19:33:56","slug":"sen-janssen-builds-on-personal-history-of-public-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=439","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Janssen builds on personal history of public service"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Sen. Janssen at home with his daughter, Betsy Anne.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sen. Charlie Janssen has paid attention to public policy issues for as long as he can remember.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy interest in politics was born in me,\u201d the Fremont senator said.<\/p>\n

Both of Janssen\u2019s parents and his uncle, former Sen. Ray Janssen, were involved in politics. His mother served as the village clerk in Nickerson for many years. Janssen said he learned from her how government officials could make a difference for their constituents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe village clerk\u2019s office was basically my house,\u201d Janssen said. \u201cIf you had a problem with the town, you came to our house for a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

His relatives\u2019 involvement in politics also taught him the value of nonpartisanship, he said, since they represented different political parties.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeadership really has no political party assigned to it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

From serving on the student councils at Logan View High School and Wayne State College, to his eventual membership on the Fremont City Council, Janssen said public service has come naturally to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to help shape what\u2019s going on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That eagerness to make a difference is what led Janssen to the Legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not afraid to get in the fight,\u201d he said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t elected to come down here and sit on my hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

An awareness of and involvement in the community is something he\u2019s passed on to his two children, five-year-old Charlie, Jr., and two-year-old Betsy Anne.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell my son he\u2019s the kid senator and my daughter that she\u2019s the baby senator,\u201d he said, smiling. \u201cTogether we represent the 15th district.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond a passion for public service, Janssen also shares his passion for baseball with his children. A season ticketholder, Janssen and his children can often be found at Haymarket Park cheering on the Huskers. He also coordinates his vacations around baseball game schedules \u2013 he\u2019s seen the Cubs play in Chicago and the Red Sox in Boston.<\/p>\n

But his favorite vacation spot is Hawaii, which he\u2019s visited three times. A former U.S. Navy search and rescue swimmer, Janssen said he always visits Pearl Harbor. He also enjoys jogging on the beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re just overwhelmed by the whole landscape,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

An avid runner, Janssen said he initially was worried about how the rigors of his legislative schedule would affect his physical activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say everybody gains weight their first year,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019ve actually lost weight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The senator wears a pedometer and the day of the interview had already clocked 3,193 steps before lunch.<\/p>\n

Juggling the responsibilities of being a father, a senator and CEO of a fast-growing medical staffing firm, Janssen said a sense of humor and balance are key.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the kind of guy that jokes around a lot, but I\u2019m very serious when I have to be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sen. Charlie Janssen has paid attention to public policy issues for as long as he can remember.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21378,"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":[209],"class_list":["post-439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-senator-features","tag-sen-janssen-at"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/MeetJanssen_blog2017.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439","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=439"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21710,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439\/revisions\/21710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}