Mark Christensen, the senator with the boyish face from the far corner of southwestern Nebraska, has drawn attention and a good share of barbs from Nebraskans who disagree with his morality-loaded and conservative-minded bills.

He has pursued topics of marriage, tobacco, adult sex businesses, concealed handguns and wildlife trapping this session, and in other years human cloning and reverse discrimination.

When a story about his bills that would regulate sex-related businesses — strip clubs and escort services — was posted on JournalStar.com, indignant readers thanked him for bringing his “moral crusade roadshow” to eastern Nebraska.

“It’s refreshing,” wrote The Other JR, “to know there is a champion like yourself in the Unicameral willing to straighten our moral compass and tackle the really important issues like lap dance geometry. …”

Christensen doesn't read the comments, but plenty of people pass them on to him.

“I’m a good case for term limits,” he says, laughing.

The 46-year-old senator smiles easily and speaks with a country drawl — droppin’ g’s like Sarah Palin and leavin’ out letters in b’lieve,  differ’nt and ever’body.

His bills — he introduced 21 this session — are drawn from the issues that affect his district, his core conservative beliefs and his calling to protect the institution of marriage.

Christensen, who has lived since 2001 in Imperial — a town closer to Denver than Lincoln — emerged in 2006 from a field of seven contenders for the District 44 seat left open by term limits. 

The primary left Christensen, a Republican, opposing Frank Shoemaker, a Democrat. And even though the office is nonpartisan, political parties made a difference in the election.

“This is a very Republican area,” said retired County Judge Cloyd Clark of McCook. “The Republican party supported him.”

The election, said former McCook mayor Jerda Garey, was highly contested and the votes split many ways.

In the end, the candidate who claimed the seat had little political experience.

In southwest Nebraska, the issues are many: water policy, roads, schools, airports, agriculture.

“He has tried to represent the interests, and has had some very difficult issues to address,” Garey said. “Consequently, compromises have not been easy.”

Not everyone, she said, has been happy with his leadership. But they acknowledge it’s tough for him as a first-term senator.

“He's our senator. He's the only senator we've got,” Clark said. “We want Sen. Christensen to be successful. … But he is not as strong as I had hoped he would be.”

Garey will grant him this:  he is well intentioned. “You couldn't ask for a nicer person.”

Even though early in his term he questioned whether he could afford to stay in the Legislature, he now plans to run for a second term.

He sees himself as independent—loves the nonpartisan system and wishes it would stay that way — even though he belongs to the Republican Party.

“I think people want me to be my own person, and that’s what I tend to be,” he said.

In three sessions, Christensen has introduced 59 bills and proposed a number of water-related  interim studies. 

He would describe his three years in the Legislature as looking after families and the rights of women, children and men, and pushing  for gun rights and  solutions to water issues.

He never owned a gun until five years ago, he said. He doesn’t hunt, never has had a hunting permit. But he has filled two gun safes since his now 16-year-old son started hunting.

He believes life starts at conception, that it needs to be protected at all costs, and that abortion and euthanasia are murder.

He doesn't have a problem with birth control, as long as once conception occurs, nothing artificial  interrupts it.

He favors the death penalty, to provide justice to murder victims’ families. But if anti-death penalty senators would allow pro-lifers their way, “I'd trade that vote in a heartbeat,” he said.

He seems most passionate about his marriage bills, like one he is still pushing to get out of the Judiciary Committee that gives an incentive for couples to get eight hours of marriage education. 

People don't understand conflict resolution, budgeting and finances, he said. And with so many blended families, child rearing is an issue.

Christensen should know. He became an instant father of three when he married his wife, Kathy, a widow,  nearly 14 years ago. They've since added four more children to the family, and the kids range in age from 3 to 24.

His wife holds down the fort five hours away from Lincoln, raising the kids, including one of their boys born with Down syndrome. During the session, he goes home on the weekends.

Opponents used that against him in the campaign, he said, questioning why, if he's such a good Christian, he would leave his family to spend so much time in Lincoln.

“You can still be a good dad and take care of your family,” he counters. 

 Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.