Talking with Bradley Byrne, Dean Young

DAPHNE, Ala. (WPMI) Three candidates are vying for Congressman Jo Bonner's seat. Republicans Dean Young and Bradley Byrne and democrat Burton Leflore took part in two forums with Local 15 News.The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it needs someone like Byrne to fight for jobs in Washington. But just how important are these endorsements? Local 15's James Gordon asked both republican candidates Byrne and Young.Byrne got his fifth major endorsement in Foley Tuesday. Last week it was the NRA, this week it was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Both the mayors of Foley and Gulf Shores were at Byrne's side for the announcements.'All of these groups have their members. In some cases their members have employees, so all of these groups that have endorsed us are working on their own get out the vote effort,' Byrne said.The U.S. Chamber sent out questionaires to both candidates last week and it says the endorsement is based on how the chamber's Board of Directors vote on or feel about the candidates' answers.Dean Young says it's about much more than that.'But then again I don't expect anything different from a Washington insider group that's pushing someone like Bradley Byrne because that's who they want. They want somebody like Bradley Byrne that will go with their agenda,' Young said. 'So both candidates filled out this questionaire?' asked James Gordon.'Dean Young actively sought out our endorsement. In fact he turned the candidate questionaire in less than 24 hours,' said Rob Engstrom with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.'Now the U.S. Chamber of Commerce must be mistaken,' said Young. 'They have nothing that says I sought their endorsement. I've never asked them for their endorsement, never would.''When you have the NRA and the U.S. Chamber both endorsing the same person, that's a pretty good signal to everybody who the real conservative in the race is,' added Byrne.