Paul Lambert grew up on a farm outside Murray, where hard work doesn't always follow the sunrise and sunset.
As a boy, he worked with his father around the 100 acres on which his family had lived and tended crops for years. And when he turned 12, he sometimes joined his father by taking hard work on the road to other local farms when needed.
"You look at the work, not the clock," Lambert said. "It doesn't matter if it's 5 o'clock or 8 o'clock; you still need to do the work."
Lambert said that country work ethic has carried him through life and will follow him into his newest challenge — state senator.
He is the new representative for District 2, which includes parts of Papillion and Springfield along with much of southern Sarpy County. Lambert, who replaced Dave Pankonin of Louisville after Pankonin's resignation on Oct. 7 to attend to business matters, is ready to get to work in the Legislature's 60-day session.
Gov. Dave Heineman chose Lambert from 11 other candidates in an intensive screening process, highlighting his roles as a Plattsmouth city councilman in 1999 and later the city's mayor from 2003 until his appointment this October.
"There were several key factors in my decision," Heineman said. "Paul understands the challenges of local government. He knows that we must control spending, and Paul is a common-sense Nebraskan."
At that moment, Lambert's work became quite a bit more strenuous. In addition to his job as a sales consultant at Jeff Henry Chevrolet in Plattsmouth, the 50-mile trek to Lincoln became much more a part of his life — or his entire life, he joked.
"From my observation, he's a dedicated public servant," Pankonin said of Lambert, as the pair worked together as fellow Cass County mayors before Pankonin served in Lincoln. "Legislature, mayor of Plattsmouth — those aren't high-paying jobs."
But Lambert stepped into his new duties a little earlier than anyone planned when the Legislature was called into a special session in November to discuss the fate of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
Lambert was grateful for the opportunity to step into his position early, which allowed him to meet many of the other 48 senators and sit down with his legislative committees, including the Health and Human Services committee.
As he walked into the capitol rotunda in a coat and tie on Nov. 1 to take his seat in the chamber for the first time, he didn't fully grasp the enormity of the moment until the governor addressed him. As "Senator Lambert."
"It hits you, the great responsibility and trust people have put in you," Lambert said. "It took me back for a moment to think about the great responsibility I have to District 2 and the whole state. . It was a sobering experience."
Although his district stretches from Nebraska Highway 370 into the northern half of Nebraska City, Lambert said his job is to work to guard the best interests of the entire state while looking out for his constituents in all three counties.
In order to do so, the senator encourages those in District 2 to contact him through any medium — be it letters, emails or phone calls — so he can better serve those he represents. Lambert has also sent a welcome letter to most households in the district and tried meeting as many residents as possible.
"Whether I'm in Papillion, Murray or Nebraska City, they're different areas, but they have similar concerns," he said.
Although any seat filled by a governor's appointment is contested during the next election — in this case, November 2012 — Lambert's goal during his term, whether measured in months or years, is to put in the work necessary to leave a positive impact across the region and the state.
But as he said, hard work never has the time of day for the clock, whether reading bills early in the morning or during late-night votes near a session's end.
"There are going to be a lot of bills that may affect us and have a big impact on District 2," Lambert said. "It's going to be hard work, but to do anything right is hard work. The goal is to leave District 2 and the state of Nebraska in better shape than it was."
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