The Tribune

By DANA SMITH dsmith@tribunemedia.net LONG Island DNA candidate Mario Cartwright claims the FNM is "copying (his) plans" with their campaign to win the constituency. Speaking in response to Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham's promises to constituents, Mr Cartwright said he "doubts they plan to deliver." He claimed their campaign is the same as their last. Monday night, the Prime Minister told constituents that in the FNM's next term, they will construct a new community hospital and upgrade Deadman's Cay airport with a new terminal and runway. He also said the FNM will provide "all of Long Island" with potable water through the construction of new Reverse Osmosis plants and the expansion of the current plant in Deadman's Cay with new storage and booster tanks. Within the next seven to ten days, Mr Ingraham said, there will be a pre-bid meeting for companies bidding for the salt water project, which will see new water mains, water distribution lines, and six transmission stations between Grays and Salt Pond. However, Mr Cartwright said the FNM "carried on with a lot of rhetoric" at the rally. "The promises they are making now are the same ones they campaigned on back in 2007," he said. "I feel like this is more empty promises and I doubt they plan to deliver." Based on the FNM's "tract record" - being in power for 15 of the last 20 years, "they would have done it a long time ago if they wanted to do it," Mr Cartwright claimed. The FNM continues to look at Long Island as a safe seat, which is why the FNM has "taken the constituency for granted for so long," he said. Mr Cartwright said that when he was president of the Long Island Chamber of Commerce, "much of what they are saying now" the Chamber was advocating for, for two and a half years. "Yet we got no response from them," he said. "And that is why I got involved with the DNA." Mr Cartwright also said he's been campaigning on those issues since he announced his candidacy, last December. "They are basically echoing the sentiments of Mario Cartwright. I addressed the Long Island Chamber of Commerce as the DNA candidate back in January and what they said last night is what I mentioned in my speech," he said. "So they are basically - for lack of a better word, copying my plans and they recognize that they neglected the place, Ingraham himself said last night - he admitted that he neglected Long Island. "So what more evidence do they need to have?" He continued: "Every five years it's the same old story, more promises and promises and they never deliver. "I think it's high time that they relinquish their claim to Long Island because they have done nothing for us. "Let some one who is serious about developing Long Island represent the good people of Long Island -- and that will be Mario Cartwright."