{"id":6139,"date":"2012-02-03T16:21:40","date_gmt":"2012-02-03T22:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=6139"},"modified":"2017-04-06T13:28:49","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T19:28:49","slug":"seiler-positive-about-the-past-and-future-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=6139","title":{"rendered":"Seiler positive about the past and future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Sen. Seiler is grateful for advice provided by veteran legislators.<\/em><\/p>\n

After serving in the military, the Nebraska National Guard and on numerous boards, Sen. Les Seiler is no stranger to public service.<\/p>\n

But when asked who his political role model is, Sen. Seiler responded without hesitation: \u201cDennis Utter.\u201d He tells a story as an illustration:<\/p>\n

In 2008, Seiler\u2014an attorney\u2014decided he wanted to take the next step in his life and become a state senator. So Seiler said his first step was to seek the help of his good friend, Dennis Utter.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, Seiler said with a smile, Utter also had decided to run for the legislative seat and was seeking out help with his campaign.<\/p>\n

Seiler said he returned to the office and broke the news to his law firm partner. \u201cI am not running against Utter,\u201d he told him.<\/p>\n

Utter went on to win election and served in the Legislature three years. He died Dec. 27, 2011 due to health complications.<\/p>\n

Seiler said Utter\u2019s death was \u201ca tremendous loss\u201d for the state and he will serve with \u201cthe same diligence, determination, and responsibility\u201d as Utter did.<\/p>\n

Having joined the Legislature after session was underway, Seiler said he is not afraid to ask questions of his peers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find the legislators very helpful,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are more than happy to give me their advice, and I do appreciate that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the warm welcome he has received in the Capitol is not the only thing Seiler is grateful for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done almost everything I have ever wanted to do, from hunting and fishing to traveling with friends,\u201d he said. \u201cJust about everything I have ever thought about doing, I have had the opportunity to.\u201d<\/p>\n

And because of that, Seiler said he has no regrets.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t change anything in my life, to the woman I have married to the kids I have raised,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Seiler has been married to his wife Joann for 46 years and they have three children: Stephanie, Gregory and Bradley.<\/p>\n

Before attending law school at the University of Nebraska, Seiler graduated from Wayne State College with a minor in education. He taught economics at Omaha Central High School, where he gained significant exposure to the school system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that education is the future of our district and state,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is no second chance, so we need to get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experience will serve him well as the newest addition to the Legislature\u2019s Education Committee. Seiler also sits on the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After serving in the military, the Nebraska National Guard and on numerous boards, Sen. Les Seiler is no stranger to public service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21370,"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":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":[207],"class_list":["post-6139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-senator-features","tag-sen-seiler-is"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/MeetSeiler_blog2017.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6139","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=6139"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21696,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6139\/revisions\/21696"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}