If we could harness the energy from all the negative advertising trying to smear Dan Feehan, we might be able to skip building wind farms for a couple of years. As of the last report, Dark money groups have spent nearly $6 million in the Minnesota 1st Congressional District to scare us with postcards, television ads, digital advertising and their newest weapon: negative texts directly to your cellphone. If you believe these cynical ads, Dan Feehan must be some combination of Beelzebub and the guy from the Minnesota Twins who traded David Ortiz to the Boston Red Sox.

Here are some facts to counteract the smear campaign:

Dan Feehan was born in St. Paul and raised in Red Wing. He signed up for the ROTC while in college, and, after graduating, joined the U.S. Army, where he served two combat tours in Iraq, earning the Bronze Star for Service, the Army Commendation Medal with Valor and the Ranger Tab.

After leaving the Army in 2009, Dan taught school for two years in some of the most challenging and under-resourced school districts in our nation. He then served our country at the White House, and as an acting assistant secretary of defense in the Pentagon. Dan now lives in Mankato with his wife and two children.

Please don’t let the hateful negative advertising win. Please vote for Dan Feehan and a brighter, respectful, bipartisan future for our country.

Sam Ehrhardt

Albert Lea High School class of 2017

Colorado Springs, Colorado