To the editor:

I’m born and raised in Fort Dodge, and I’ve known Megan Srinivas for over 20 years, since middle school, in fact. Megan’s friendliness, directness, and passion have always been clear. If you’ve seen her speak on the campaign, you know that already. As soon as Megan was done with her medical training at Johns Hopkins, she came back home to do one thing: help people. She is a bright, hard-working, and ethical servant of her hometown community, and deserves to be elected on her own merits.

But I am concerned about the other candidate in this race. This summer, Megan’s opponent went door-to-door telling voters that Megan was “not from here,” when she clearly is. An out-of-state guest speaker said the same thing, using prepared remarks from Megan’s opponent’s campaign. By August, her opponent must have learned that Megan was raised in Fort Dodge. It begs the question, why are facts so hard to accept and falsehoods so easy to spread?

When Megan and I were in school, we had a program called Character Counts. There are six pillars of character; Trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship. By communicating that Megan is “not from here” chips away at every single pillar. Deception is unacceptable in a State Representative. Voters of House District 9, please join me and vote for the candidate who shows character, Megan Srinivas.

Robert Secor

Fort Dodge