"It is astounding to me that Congressman Gary Ackerman (D-Jamaica) and Housing Help have continued their crusade against East Northport," declared Grant Lally. "After all the broken promises Housing Help and Gary Ackerman have made community, their recent closed-door "press conference" is like pouring salt on the open wound that Matinecock Court has become."

"Housing Help has the audacity to hold a one-sided debate on Matinecock Court," Lally continued. "They did not invite A Better Community Civic Association. Instead, only boosters of low income public housing were invited, a room full of rubber stamps for Gary Ackerman and Housing Help."

"Ackerman should have joined our other elected officials, such as Senator Carl Maracellino and Assemblyman John Flanagan, to withdraw his support of Matinecock Court and start the negotiations anew, in good faith," Lally continued. "Instead, he would rather side with his extreme liberal allies at Housing Help than with the people he is supposed to represent in Congress."

"Susan Lagville of Housing Help was quoted as saying that she did not want 'a debate on the merits' of Matinecock Court," Lally continued. "She also praised Gary Ackerman as 'the only politician who had the guts to try to help the community,' basically denouncing everyone that actually lives in East Northport. Gary Ackerman lives in Jamaica, Queens, not even in our district. Maybe that is why he can never defend us."

"Even Housing Help's advertising campaign is a sham," Lally continued. "The actual layout of the proposed project looks like a New York City subway map. Pretty pictures in the local papers cannot hide the fact that on top of everything else, Matinecock Court is an environmental and structural disaster."

"Gary Ackerman has chosen to side with Housing Help over East Northport," Lally concluded. "I am committed to seeing that Gary Ackerman obtain full-time employment with Housing Help come this November. Even though Gary Ackerman is new to Long Island, his act has quickly become old. Ackerman has been on our payroll for the past eighteen years, and eighteen years of subsidizing Gary Ackerman is definitely long enough."