OPINION

3 Reasons Dean Young Will Be A Disaster for Lower Alabama – VOTE TUESDAY

U.S. Congress AL-01 (South Alabama) Run-Off

Bradley Byrne vs. Dean Young

Tuesday November 5th

FIND YOUR POLLING PLACE HERE

As you may have ascertained – we have paid unprecedented attention to the run-off between Dean Young and Bradley Byrne for Lower Alabama’s AL-01 seat in the U.S. Congress.

Because the Republicans are a significant majority in AL-01 this election is very likely to determine South Alabama’s U.S. Congressman to replace Jo Bonner.

Because the polls are essentially dead even (within 3%) every vote will count – turnout is crucial. The whole country is watching the outcome to judge the future of the G.O.P. and the U.S. as a whole. We will likely never have the chance to have our votes make as large of an impact on the national level.

This election will determine if South Alabama will succumb to extremism and demagoguery for the first time in modern history.

Usually we may do one post during an election. Even the mayor’s race only required three. This should have been a simple run-off that we would have briefly mentioned. In fact if any of the other candidates had made the run-off (Hillyer, Fincher, etc.) we would have likely stayed out of it. Or even if a decent “Tea Party” candidate like Pete Riehm had run we would have not gotten involved.

We should not have a dog in the fight.

If you have read Mod Mobilian for the last three years then you know we try to do objective pros and cons on candidates – although admittedly leaning to the right as we have yet to endorse a Democratic candidate. In this case Byrne and Young have identical conservative positions on almost all issues – despite the efforts of Young’s campaign to create false issues like the federalization of the Delta or immigration reform. We would LOVE two be able to compare two good candidates.

But when it comes to character and style we can’t even compare them.

As we got more and more involved one fact became clear:

Character problems like dishonesty and belligerence make Dean Young unfit for elected office. Period.

These character issues will make Young at best ineffective, and more likely at worst an embarrassment and detriment for Alabama and the G.O.P. No one claims Bradley Byrne is perfect – but by all accounts he is a decent and honest man. Because he is not a divisive firebrand, he is more likely to be effective in making the changes that we need and bringing economic development and jobs to South Alabama.

Young is – point blank – the worst candidate we have seen in our lifetimes in Alabama and even nationally – save only David Duke.

These character problems include:

Repeated lies or exaggerations – especially about his background (businesses and military service)

Completely unnecessary belligerence towards people – i.e. “being a jerk”

Willful ignorance on how the government functions

And we do not say that lightly.

He will be a disaster for the reputation and business environment of Lower Alabama.

Everyone is upset with Washington. But electing a loud-mouth grandstander will only make things worse – for South Alabama, the country – and especially the Republican Party. Young will not help convince independents to elect Republicans to the Senate and White House. We still have to work within our representative democratic system – unless we want armed insurrection and if that is the case you need to get a grip. Young will only drive more people away from the GOP and worsen the situation. This is not Establishment vs. Tea Party – it is sanity vs. lunacy.

And we hold no hatred for Mr. Young. In fact, we feel his behavior is rather pathetic. But we feel strongly that he should not represent us in Congress.

Dean Young’s Repeated Lies or “Exaggerations”

This is really what bugs us the most. We knew Dean had made questionable statements, but we found repeated exaggerations bordering on lies and then when he made more exaggerations to cover those up it was too much.

Young’s Military “Exaggerations”

Young stated that he served in the Special Forces, but when a USN veteran questioned Young’s claim on the Uncle Henry show, Young scolded the caller and accused him of being a “Byrne person.” Young had to admit that he never finished training for Pararescue.

Saying you were in the Special Forces when you never made it through training is dishonest and denigrates the sacrifice of all servicemen. If you don’t finish SEAL training you don’t call yourself a SEAL. If you don’t complete boot camp you don’t call yourself a Marine. If you don’t complete OCS you don’t call yourself an Naval Officer.

Young then answered the allegations by saying he was the “youngest platoon leader in the Air Force.” The Air Force does not have platoons and if they did they would not be commanded by a 17-year-old.

The caller’s wife commented on Yellowhammernews.com:

My husband was the caller and is not “one of those Bryne people”. My husband served 9 years in the USN as a RIO in the F-14 Tomcat. He flew missions off USS Saratoga over Iraq in the Gulf War. He simply cannot abide someone lying about their Military service. If you will listen to Dean Young, he is the one who says “I was Special Forces”. That is simply not true. As my husband pointed out training for SF and serving in Special Forces are completely different things. Mr. Young should respect those who have served and currently serve enough not to boast about something that isn’t true. It has nothing to do with any other candidate. My husband was speaking as a Veteran who deserves respect and the truth.

Other comments:

(What angers) veterans like me is people who inflate their service. There’s no need for it. None at all. If all you did was technical school at Lackland AFB or Camp Bullis, TX as it seems Mr. Young did then be proud of just being able to sign up and volunteer. But don’t pull some BS scheme that you’re “special forces”. I know most civilians won’t understand it but this guy is lying and is greatly exaggerating his service for no real reason.

Conclusion: Dean Young is absolutely amazing, between the age of 16 and 20 he completed a 4 year degree and completed basic training and Para-rescue training at 17 and while stationed at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas he managed to stock grocery store shelves in Mississippi, full time University Student and command an Air Force platoon (flight) in Texas in the most demanding Air Force schools which in fact task students over 14 hours a day with training. Dean, geee…I’ve told some war story whoppers but this deserves an Air Farce Pinnoccio Medal with oak leaf clusters…

Young’s Business “Exaggerations”

In order to portray himself as a “businessman” and his opponent as a politician Young has repeatedly exaggerated his “businesses.”

Young claimed on the Uncle Henry Show (6/4/13) that his businesses “are multi-million dollar companies… I don’t tell people how much I make. The federal government’s gonna get a copy of all that… These are giant businesses, giant corporations.”

As we have shown, and Young finally admitted on the Uncle Henry Show (10/24), his “multi-million dollar giant corporations” are two rental beach houses in Gulf Shores. We are sorry – we don’t know anyone (including ourselves) who refer to their rental beach houses as “multi-million dollar giant corporations.” That is ridiculous.

Young then went on to respond that he has up to 25 employees for his rental beach houses – but he didn’t provide any details on who they are or their job descriptions. Again – to anyone who rents a beach house the idea of needing 25 employees to do so is absolutely ridiculous.

Young may deny his claim of “multi-million dollar corporations” is an outright lie by using the market value of the beach houses (not even his net equity) – but “giant corporations” are typically valued on their gross or net revenues – neither of which are close to $1 million here.

Young’s bio says he is a “Licensed Real Estate Agent” – but the Alabama Real Estate Commission says he does not have an active real estate license.

Young says he is a Home Builder – but he has no internet presence as a home builder, and in fact he has NO home building company – his home building license is held by his political consulting company PMM.

At the same time, Young downplayed his involvement in politics.

Young has made his living in politics for the past 20 years, and has unsuccessfully run for office three times – Secretary of State, Lieutenant Governor (withdrew) and Congressman.

Between 1996 and 2003 Young’s primary source of income was apparently his “Christian Family Association, Inc.” – which although referred to by news outlets as a “national Christian association” was in fact a for-profit company owned by Young. The name was misleading.

According to AP reports CFA Inc. primarily made money by fundraising for Roy Moore and the company had collected over $100,000 by only 1997.

Young has refused to release full records for CFA INC. or PMM INC – his political consulting businesses. Thus – Byrne’s ad and Young’s claim that he has never made a profit off Moore remains unproven one way or the other.

WHERE DID HIS MONEY COME FROM? Young claims that he “never made any money” fundraising for Moore – yet apparently had no other source of income for 8 years and then showed up in Orange Beach as a million dollar real estate investor in 2003. Young could have put these questions to rest by releasing the information but the Young campaign has not responded to our requests for information and this has not been looked into by the other media.

Once in Orange Beach, Young then raised money for politicians (some of whom are now in federal prison) with his Beach PAC. After raising $100,000 (which he then paid to his own company PMM) he was appointed to the Orange Beach Planning Commission. He then went on to develop real estate with one of the city councilmen. These facts have drawn self-righteous indignation but have never been denied. Young has “misstated” several other things during this campaign: Young’s latest ad claiming that local news sources called Byrne’s ad “lies” – is (ironically) a lie itself. None of the local media that we can see have referred to it as “lies.”

Young’s campaign fliers call Byrne a “liar” because of changes in his opinions. Opinions are subject to change. However Young has lied about FACTS of his own background – those do not change.

After the National Chamber of Commerce endorsed Bradley Byrne, Young stated that he would never accept the Chamber’s endorsement. This prompted to the Chamber’s V.P. Rob Engstrom to respond: Bizarre melt down: Dean Young seeks US Chamber endorsement. Doesn’t get it. Now says he wouldn’t have taken it… Dean Young is not telling the truth. He sought the endorsement. Filled out questionnaire. Young’s belligerence and lack of consensus building As anyone with common sense knows – to get people to work with you in business or politics you have to have at least a modicum of congeniality or you are very unlikely to ever accomplish anything. If you want to change Washington – which is understandable – you have to elect someone who will do more than grandstand. You have to elect someone who has the social skills to build a team to win – be it health care debates or the next Boeing-Airbus showdown. We see no evidence that Mr. Young has the skills to build consensus. On the contrary – he has succeeded in alienating and angering many people. Lack of political and business support Chad Fincher and Quin Hillyer – the number 3 and 4 vote getters in the primary respectively – strongly support Mr. Byrne along with Jo Bonner and Jack Edwards. No candidates or former Congressmen (to our knowledge) have come out in support of Young. That should say something.

For Stimpson lovers, the Stimpson family endorsed Byrne – Fred, Richard, Ben, along with the Alabama Forestry Association, with Fred as President.

Young has failed to garner support among typical “Tea Party” organizations such as The Tea Party Express, Citizens United and Club For Growth.

UPDATED: “Dean Young vows to be ‘Ted Cruz congressman,’ but pro-Cruz PAC backs Byrne” – Brendan Kirby, al.com. Brian Baker, the president of the Ending Spending PAC, took issue with Young’s self-comparison to Cruz. “I don’t see that,” he said. “It’s a great talking point to say you’ll be like Tex Cruz. But Ted Cruz is a very smart, a very thoughtful person. And we think Bradley Byrne is better on all of these points.” It is interesting to note that in addition to the National Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Byrne instead of Young has the suport of companies such as Pfizer – Mr. Young’s former employer as a sales rep – along with Caterpillar, BASF, AT&T; the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, the National Retail Federation and the National Association of Home Builders.

Young’s supporters spuriously refer to these endorsements as being “backed by Washington” – but Byrne has also been endorsed by Alabama’s business groups including the Alabama Automobile Dealers Association, Alabama Association of REALTORS, Alabama Retail Association, Alabama Associated General Contractors, Associated Builders & Contractors of Alabama, Alabama Roadbuilders Association, Alabama Homebuilders Association, Alabama Bankers Association, and the Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives.

Infamously, Young almost got into an televised altercation with his Secretary of State opponent Dave Thomas on Alabama Public Television’s “For the Record” after Young “repeatedly called Thomas a liar and interrupted his answers to questions.” Thomas said: Dean Young’s m.o. is to antagonize and intimidate people. The fact that Young lost the voting precincts in Orange Beach to Byrne in the primary (see map) is one indicator of the lack of support for Young in his hometown.

One Orange Beach city councilperson wrote in an email forwarded to us: I will be unable to join (in) support of Mr. Young. He was a part of a very contentious time within the City of Orange Beach, and raised an enormous amount of money that I feel was misused. He also personally attacked some very good people (Mr. Ed Carroll being one) while working on Mr. Russo’s campaign. I have forgiven but have had a very difficult time forgetting. Controversial and hateful rhetoric Young has repeatedly attracted national attention for his controversial comments. If you want to oppose gay marriage then vote against it if you are given the opportunity – but there is no reason to grandstand and speak in a manner that has been interpreted as hateful or intolerant. Making headlines in this fashion only reflects poorly on Alabama. In 1998, it was reported that Young verbally accosted Rabbi Sidney Vineburg at a Roy Moore event in Wisconsin calling him “a leader of the forces of darkness.” Young denies the account – but if the Rabbi wanted to fabricate an event why would he accuse the unknown Young instead of Moore himself?

Young has made a number of comments (as listed on the Daily Caller and in other sources) that have been interpreted as particularly intolerant towards homosexuals. He has said that these were “taken out of context” – however you have to wonder in what context these would ever be acceptable: To the homosexuals who will not change, you are not welcome here in Etowah County or in the State of Alabama. (Gays are a) fringe group that are nothing more than a gnat on the rear end of an elephant. Either you get your lives straight or you get back in the closet where you came from. Speaking against that lifestyle is no different than speaking against murder and other crimes. (Homosexuality) violates the laws of nature. If animals tried it, they would get bit. I’m against homosexuals pretending like they’re married. If they don’t like the laws of Alabama … then maybe they need to go back to California or Vermont or wherever they came from. Young has had his run-ins with the Alabama Baptists. When the Alabama Baptists refused to suspend the rules of their convention and allow Young to offer a resolution from the floor about the Ten Commandments, Young sought out the media and publicly accused the Baptists of being soft on the Bible. One of the messengers responded in the Alabama Baptist: “He apparently believes that the ultimate act of scriptural faithfulness is to publicly display one portion of God’s Word in strategic places. I am not sure why Mr. Young does not recognize these, and many other ministries, as legitimate means of making the Scriptures visible. I am not sure why Mr. Young believes that the only way to affirm the Bible is to display it in schools or courthouses. Maybe he does not know Jeremiah 31: 31–34. I have no idea why Mr. Young would criticize us so harshly. Maybe he has not read 1 John 2: 19.”

Young publicly criticized Dr. Bob Terry – editor of the state newspaper Alabama Baptist – after he editorialized against required school prayer. And when convention president Rev. Leon Ballard said “Traditionally it’s been our position that people should pray in the quietness of their hearts. When we come to public schools, the question is whose prayer to use,” Young went to the papers and, “describing himself as a Southern Baptist but not an official representative at the convention,” disputed the idea that Baptists traditionally supported the separation of church and state.

Young has used questionable tactics to advance his causes. According to the Gadsden Times, after Judge Ira De Ment’s school prayer ruling, Young asked Sylvania Police Chief Alfred Rigstad to pose for photos next to the announcers’ booth during a high school football game. Young then took the photos and distributed them among his acolytes reportedly as an example of the effects of the ruling – that police would arrest anyone praying in public schools. When it came out that the photo was possibly staged, it did more harm than good to the school prayer effort. Young’s willful ignorance It is one thing to want to change government – it is quite another to be ignorant of how it functions and run for Congress. The latter is not acceptable in a U.S. Congressman. And his knowledge of foreign affairs appears worse – even below that of an average citizen. When asked what country he admired outside the U.S. he could not give an answer and said “I am not a big world traveler.” Of course, you don’t need to be a word traveler, you just have to have an interest in world affairs. It is so bad that it could only be the result of an active xenophobic disdain – not a good trait for a congressman. Young says “absolutely not, under no circumstance” to increasing the debt limit again (as opposed to Byrne who says he would if it was part of a larger deal to overhaul the federal budget.) That sounds good theoretically – but the fact is unless the Republicans can take control of the Senate and White House “under no circumstance” practically means he is willing to default on the national debt. If he thinks default is a good idea we need to send him to Greece to see what an economic crisis with 20% interest rates and 50% youth unemployment feels like. In a democracy, you can only do what you have the power to do without sabotaging the future of the country. So he is either lying or foolish – likely the latter.

In a Guardian Q&A Young was unable to name Treasury Secretary Jack Lew (the guy that signs the dollar bills, formulates national fiscal and debt policies, and is 5th in line for the Presidency) or House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (his “boss” if he were to be elected). These are not “trick questions” – these are things that anyone with a serious interest in the national government would know, much less a congressional candidate.

“At a debate in Mobile, I watched Young flub a simple question about the recent Supreme Court decision on the Voting Rights Act, a critical issue in the South.” – Alex Altman, Time Magazine. At the same debate he claimed Barney Frank was still in the Senate (he’s not).

Also in the Guardian Q&A Young claimed President Obama was born in Kenya – which shows a complete lack of interest in conventional reality and qualifies him as a birther – which is not a position serious people take regardless of their politics.

Asked for his position on Egypt and Syria (where revolutions are ongoing) he responded: “”We, as Americans, need to have a foreign policy that says: if you attack our nation, and you fly your planes into our buildings, or if you harm Americans on foreign soil – we will go after your nation. You will be laid bare to your enemies for 200 years.” What? Does he have no clue what is going on in the Middle East?

Apparently not – when asked what US policy towards Saudi Arabia should be he answered, “We should have free trade with them.” Lastly, one of the most concerning aspects of Young’s campaign is the tenor of some of his “Pitchfork People” supporters (as he calls then) which is even more extreme than Young – from anti-federalists and neo-Confederates to frank racists. An unfortunate click on one of the commenters on Young’s campaign page whose facebook profile picture is a confederate flag led to vile imagery of President Obama being lynched. Young is not responsible for his supporters’ actions, but we are still concerned about those extremists being encouraged by his election. We cannot ignore their influence on the politics of our area. That said, Young has lamented that “we are witnessing the end of a Western Christian empire” – and unless he is worried about an influx of Greek Orthodox, “Western” can be easily construed to refer to the decline of supremacy of Europeans. “Dean, if anything, embodies people’s anger at the Obama administration,” Jerry Lathan told Politico. And that is absolutely true – hatred of Obama has reached fanatical levels in AL-01. But Young’s rhetoric will do nothing but alienate most people and only strengthen Obama’s support. The Pitchfork People may not care what Yankees think – but if they were intelligent they would realize that Yankees vote too. Electing an ineffective extremist will only hurt their cause in the long-term. We still agree with the endorsement that stated: “Dean is very reminiscent in his presentation of some famous populists of old. Hughey (sic) Long and George Wallace come to mind.” That is the concern. Populists from Long to David Duke are able to rile up their constiuents with anger, hatred and base emotions but rarely leave them better off for it. This is evident whenever someone presents facts that question Mr. Young – his fanatic supporters ignore the facts and attack the messenger. This is dangerous. Business vs. Populist or educated rich urbanites vs. uneducated poor rural whites may seem to be oversimplifications – but voting in the primary support these dichotomies. This looks to be a split developing in not only the Republican party but our area which – like the Bourbon vs. Populist Democrat splits of the post-Reconstruction 19th century South – is not likely to be constructive for us in the long term. (Press-Register graphic). As we said – we have always tried to present objective and balanced profiles of candidates. In this case – very unfortunately – Mr. Young has shown for all of the reasons enumerated above that he will be a detriment and embarrassment to South Alabama. We have never felt so strongly that a candidate was unsuited to represent us. Bradley Byrne is not perfect – no one is – but he is a decent man that will act in the best interest of South Alabama. VOTE TUESDAY 11/5.

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.