By AVA TURNQUEST
Tribune Chief Reporter
aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
IF Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner is renominated as the Free National Movement’s standard-bearer for the constituency, former Cabinet Minister Tennyson Wells pledged yesterday that he would campaign for an independent candidate or run in the area himself as a last resort.
Mr Wells was adamant that Mrs Butler-Turner did not have the support of party voters on the island as he pushed back against accusations that his involvement in the FNM was linked to the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and rooted in a personal agenda.
“I am 70 in December,” he said, “you think I have any time to waste dealing with petty issues? I don’t. I don’t have time for petty issues. I look at who are there and I make judgment based on what I feel and know. She (Loretta) doesn’t fit that bill, Minnis is miles ahead of her in that.”
Mr Wells added: “I support the FNM under Minnis and that’s how I’m going to vote. As far as I’m concerned I never was a PLP. I supported the PLP as an independent. At my age going forward, I’m not going to follow anybody blindly. I look at the situation, I assess it and I think of the country. If I think that’s the right thing to do, whether PLP or FNM, I’ll do it.
“I’m not looking for nothing no more,” he said. “I’d like my children and grandchildren and the children of the country prosper.”
Mr Wells has recently been a staunch advocate of Dr Hubert Minnis, who is expected to face off against Mrs Butler-Turner in a leadership battle at the party convention next week. His commentary has drawn the ire of some FNMs, who expressed distrust of his motives given his former political affiliations.
Mr Wells resigned from the FNM in 1999 and later became an independent representative for Bamboo Town. In 2012, he campaigned against Mrs Butler-Turner on the island in support of the PLP’s candidate Alex Storr. Mrs Butler-Turner garnered 979 votes to Mr Storr’s 531, while Democratic National Alliance candidate Mario Cartwright received 219 votes.
“I think they are entitled to those views,” he said, “but I don’t have no motives of running. Other than if she was returned as leader. I’ve said publicly that if she was successful, we’ll organise an independent to run against her.
“Even if that be me. I have no interest really in running, but that doesn’t mean that if nobody else goes that I would sit down and let her go back to do the same bull again. I don’t mind doing that for five years.
“Only as a last, last resort but there are couple of people who I have talked to, there are a few names being circulated.”
Mr Wells revealed that a potential candidate being circulated was lawyer and Tribune columnist Adrian Gibson, whom he said that he would not have any difficulty supporting.
Notwithstanding Dr Minnis’ comments, Mr Wells pointed out that the FNM leader had a strong running mate in Deputy Leader K Peter Turnquest.
“Minnis got another man there who I believe understands what they’re about, based on what I see over last three to four years, his presentation in Parliament and advice in the business section (of local newspapers) just about every day. To me he looks to have some principle, when they tried to get him to run against Minnis he said no. And he’s not seeking office like what (Senator Dr Duane) Sands is doing.”
The FNM convention is scheduled for July 27-29 at the Melià Hotel.
Comments
proudloudandfnm 8 years, 5 months ago
Run then. Think anyone on your run? Run....
Emac 8 years, 5 months ago
" I think of the country." BS! Tennyson Wells is one of those old greedy used to be politicians, who still craves attention. During his tenure as a minister of the government, Wells can speak of nothing that he has done to benefit the Bahamas. Quite frankly, he and the kind only seek public office to feed of the fat of the land, so to speak. As Sting song goes,"The more they get, the more they want" As insensitive as this may sound, these old wicked creatures need to hurry hit the bucket so that the Bahamas can breathe and new talents can be recognized.
bahamian242 8 years, 5 months ago
Your full of Bull S....! Go home and go lie down!
sheeprunner12 8 years, 5 months ago
Tenny Wells is a greedy, hoggish man who has NO good track record in Long Island .......... Loretta will beat him in Long Island .......... the only person who might win in Long Island other than the FNM candidate is a present local government official ....... not Rollins either
Regardless 8 years, 5 months ago
The biggest issue with Long Island electing a local is they have no international experience or dealings with sophisticated investors. The last one was Peter Graham and there has been not one significant investment in Long Island since. Jimmy Knowles never had the savoir-faire. Cartwright did his best with fisheries and BLT is long on mouth and short on everything else save appetite.
licks2 8 years, 5 months ago
Not a free country anymore there? Go for it Mr. Wells. . . maybe problems for LBT. . .I will not lose no sleep over his running. . .he has the right to do so! RUN. . .TENNY. . .RUN. . . LOL!
sealice 8 years, 5 months ago
he's nothing but a liar - you care about Bahamians how come you left your giant ass fishing pots all down the central and south east coast of Abaco for years? And then when you were called on it said you had nothing to do with it cus the company was in your wifes name?
Victor 8 years, 5 months ago
Tennyson 'long line fishing' Wells supported the PLP in the last election. Why would it be news if he did so again?
Publius 8 years, 5 months ago
What I want to say will get deleted by the admins, so...
Greentea 8 years, 5 months ago
the only reason Wells is supporting Minnis is becaus HM is weak, needs his money and will have to pay it back with interest. Anyone willing to go to this length against anyone has a personal agenda.
killemwitdakno 8 years, 5 months ago
Keeps bringing up the building favor he did for them in the 90's like that now makes him Papa.
TalRussell 8 years, 5 months ago
Look at Comrade Tennyson under the bright endorsement spotlight and at least you can't say his backing of Minnis, may possibly remotely lead to where the BEC bribe moneys may have ended up?
Isn't this a more positive sign weighing in favour of Tennyson...right?
Doesn't it leave some political reaching questions unanswered likes if you took bribe money's to influence government's decision making - why was there not a broader, wider, deeper political investigation net cast of the higher ups?
Strange as it sounds, why didn't the official opposition not demand a Royal Commission of Inquiry to examine this tried and proven guilty in a court of law bribe affair?
Do you really believe this was but a "lone wolf" red shirts bribe taking affair?
truetruebahamian 8 years, 5 months ago
All of those Mexican refrigeration technicians that Wells brought in who had no work permits and so I doubt whether their National Insurance was covered either.
TalRussell 8 years, 5 months ago
Comrade TrueTrueBahamian I have no personal knowledge to speak on what may or may not have happened with Mexican fridges techs years back. Let's fast-forward to asking more current stuff likes what about Baha Mar. Were the workers national insurance premiums deducted off their paychecks and promptly forwarded on to the NIB? If not, isn't this not an chargeable illegal act?
Did Baha Mar pay BEC for the millions of dollars it used-up in lights and air-conditioning? Is Baha Mar even now paying BEC keep their lights and air-conditioning on at the Cable Beach's empty white elephant?
Are workers NIB premiums even now being paid?
Tell me about those Chinese work permits. Where the canceled work permit workers actually flown back to China...or simply allowed work at another hotel's construction project - under the same work permits?
Do you have knowledge as to if Loretta and Duane, ever bothered to ask any of the above questions?
Greentea 8 years, 5 months ago
i remember that... hired bahamian company and the mexicans showed up.
proudloudandfnm 8 years, 5 months ago
Long Island aint stupid enough to elect Tennyson.
Well_mudda_take_sic 8 years, 5 months ago
Tennyson has always put his own personal financial interests above all else. This old corrupt political dinosaur only knows how to peddle political influence (what little he has left) for his own benefit and has never cared an iota for the interests of the Bahamian people. Hubert Ingraham spent 15 years at the helm of our country and his failed policies, greed, corruption and cronyism, like Christie's, has greatly contributed to the sad state of affairs most Bahamians find themselves in today. Minnis and LBT are no different than Ingraham and Christie - correction - Minnis is ten times worse than Ingraham, Christie or LBT could ever be when it comes to Minnis's incompetence, dishonesty and many other severe character flaws! Bahamians should vote for the independent candidate running in their constituency in the next general election (assuming the independent candidate is reputable, honest and literate) or not vote at all. The old political dinosaurs and everyone associated with them and/or the governing apparatus of their self serving political parties, whether FNM, PLP or DNA, must be made extinct; otherwise our country will descend into the abysmal depths of a failed state with unimaginable hardship consequences for all of us. It's now really as simple as that. We must all do whatever we can to avoid the Bahamas becoming the next Venezuela in our sphere of the world!
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