To the editor:

Service. It is something that caring people on both sides of any aisle (political or otherwise) commit to, in effort to make life better for others. Life is not about making things better for “me.” Life should be about making things better for “we.” And it is with service in mind that I am excited to once again support Dan Feehan in his effort to become our next Congressman, after learning about his filing to run for Congress earlier in the week.

From the first time I heard Dan speak in New Ulm in February 2018, I could tell he wasn’t your typical politician. While our current Congressman was living in Washington D.C., where he has lived most of his life, writing in his Mr. Conservative blog, Dan was serving our nation completing two combat tours of duty in Iraq after growing up in Southern Minnesota. Dan came home and served as a teacher, helping middle school students in Gary, Indiana try and realize their potential, while also serving our nation and our soldiers at the Pentagon.

When our community’s park and campground was inundated with flood water after the Fourth of July 2018, I mentioned to Dan and his team that Springfield had been hit hard by flooding. They said, “What can we do to help?” and within two weeks, Dan and several of his campaign staff were here in Springfield, working alongside dozens of us from town, picking up debris in Riverside Park, as well as scrubbing fence around our community’s pool. Taking time away from the busy campaign trail, to help our city and several of our small businesses that depend upon campground and park/pool revenue to survive.

That is the Dan Feehan I have come to know since the Spring of 2018, and that is the same commitment to service that he has instilled within his campaign staff, as well as thousands of supporters. I know Dan will represent us all to the best of his ability. And I hope he gets a chance to prove it beginning in January 2021.

Derek Tonn

Springfield