Time to review District 1 candidate Dan Feehan, drawing information from votesmart.org and his campaign website. Dan was born in Saint Paul and grew up in Red Wing. In 2005, he earned a BS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, signing up for ROTC training after witnessing the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. Upon graduation, he became an officer in the Army and served on active duty as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Returning home in 2009, he was a first grade teacher on Chicago’s south side, then taught math in Gary, Indiana. He pursued a Master’s degree in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, spending three months as Mayoral Fellow, Chicago Mayor’s Office, early in Rahm Emanuel’s first term.

He then worked for the Department of Defense, first as a White House Fellow, then in management positions, where he managed 300 people and an annual budget of $600 million. In 2017, he became an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a non-partisan, non-profit organization whose mission is to research and analyze public policy for leaders in national security.

His address in Milwaukee during his time in school and the military was that of his parents, who taught him to value public service. His career has consistently been in the most committed and least financially rewarding kind of public service. As quoted on his website, “My experience as a soldier and teacher taught me the enormous impact public policy has on the lives of everyday people, and I became determined to use that wisdom as a policymaker,” and, “everyone matters or no one matters.” His accused ‘big bucks’ contribution to Clinton’s last campaign was a whopping $1,500, and his campaign takes no money from corporate PACs.

I know who I’m voting for.

Cathy Porter

Albert Lea, MN