Courtesy Photo/Image Ben Nelson and Ben Haag

Courtesy Photo/Image Ben Nelson and Ben Haag in 1990

Think twice about what you write to your U.S. senator, because your letter may be filed in Washington, D.C. forever, according to Ben Haag.

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The North Platte Community College student served as an intern in the office of Sen. Ben Nelson last summer.

Haag said flying alone into the nation’s capital made him more nervous than going to boot camp for the Nebraska National Guard.

He had no idea what to do upon arrival.

“At least in basic training someone could take care of you,” Haag said. “Drill sergeants are always there, so if you have a problem, they can help you.

“They might beat on you a little bit,” he said, laughing, “but they can help you. But here, I was on my own and I was freaking out.”

On the plane out of Omaha, he confided his concern to the woman sitting next to him. “Drill sergeants,” he found, come in many guises.

“She said, ‘Well, just don’t worry about it,” Haag said, and promised to show him what to do.

Haag is lucky that way.

The Ben factor

As for scoring the internship, call it “The Ben Factor.”

Haag, the son of Mary Sue Haag of Maxwell, and James Haag of Ogallala, grew up in McCook. In 1990, Nelson came to the city’s Heritage Days celebration, campaigning for governor of Nebraska.

Haag was five years old.

McCook is Nelson’s hometown, so everyone knows him, Haag said. “My mother introduced me to him, and he said, ‘Hey, my name is Ben and his name is Ben; he’s all right.’”

Haag walked in the parade with Nelson and had his picture taken with him. It later appeared in Nelson’s campaign newspaper, headlined “Bens for Ben.”

In the spring of 2009, Haag, now a political science major at NPCC, shared the picture with instructor Dr. Doug Clouatre. By chance, Nelson’s legislative assistant, Kerri Shanase, visited the college the next day.

Haag is lucky that way.

“Dr. Clouatre found me in the hall and said, ‘There is someone I want you to meet,’” Haag said.

Haag showed Shanase the photo. When he said he would like to do an internship, Shanase sent a scan of the photo to Nelson. Haag was on his way.

Serving for the senate

In Washington, Haag worked in the Hart Senate Office Building, and stayed in a university dormitory. Everything was expensive, he said.

“The whole trip, including the flight, was around five grand for six weeks,” Haag said. He received a stipend of $320 a week, but had to provide the rest. No one except family is allowed to finance interns.

“I was broke the majority of the time,” Haag said. Haag is putting himself through college, so he adapted, going to the Smithsonian museums and other free sites.

In Nelson’s office, Haag answered phones and opened and read mail. He summarized each letter, wrote a reference number on it, and passed it to Nelson’s staff.

All letters are kept on file, he said. When a name is looked up, all the letters that person has ever written come up.

Haag also delivered bills to other senators for their signatures, many to Sen. Grassley from Iowa, he said.

He saw Conn. Sen. Joe Lieberman so often, Lieberman knew his name. “He would come into Sen. Nelson’s office and say, ‘Hey, Ben, how’re you doing?’” Haag said.

Senators and some advice

Haag came away impressed with the senators.

“They have an underground railroad that goes to all the buildings, and I’ve ridden on the subway with them several times -- a couple of them I didn’t know were senators.”

After a long conversation with someone he thought was a staff member, Haag found out he was a senator from Tennessee.

“Oh, my gosh, I felt like an idiot,” Haag said. “I said, ‘Excuse this dumb intern.’ He didn’t care; he was really cool.”

The senators work hard, Haag said. “Sen. Nelson would walk through the hallway and he’d see me and talk to me for a little bit. But he didn’t really have time to sit down and talk.”

Nelson had to schedule time for the interns. “He has a secretary that schedules his every minute,” Haag said.

Haag plans to earn a degree in political science and then go to law school. Asked if Nelson gave him any advice, Haag said, “Yes, to keep an open mind. He said, ‘Don’t watch just one channel; watch both sides. Watch CNN, watch MSNBC, watch Fox, watch everything. Don’t read just one side of the media; read all of it, and come to the conclusion that you think is best. All lot of people tell half truths, and then you only see half the story.’

And, despite his first fears, Ben Haag enjoyed Washington, D.C. “I didn’t want to leave,” he said. But not so Ben Nelson, he believes.

“Sen. Nelson does a lot of flying from D.C. to Nebraska,” Haag said. “He tries to come back to Nebraska as much as possible. He likes Nebraska a lot better than he likes D.C., I think.”