Constantino campaign appears to have paid $28K to woman who threatened Gendebien with DEC complaint

Republican congressional candidate Anthony Constantino appears to have paid $28,000 to a woman whose partner used to work on the farm of Blake Gendebien, the Democratic nominee for the 21st Congressional District, and who has previously threatened to report Gendebien to the state Department of Environmental Conservation for illegal dumping allegations, documents and public records reviewed by City & State show. 

Constantino has made the allegations a key point of attack against Gendebien during this fall’s election cycle, becoming one of the most widely publicized stories of the race and even prompting Constantino’s team to make an online video game, BlakesDump.com, where users clean up digital trash from the image of what they allege is Gendebien’s “dump.”

According to text messages and emails reviewed by City & State, Scott Hooper, who worked on Gendebien’s dairy farm from July 2022 to April 2024, and his romantic partner and housemate Lisa Fogarty alleged that Gendebien habitually dumped “numerous” animal carcasses and other trash near a creek on his dairy farm, which is against the law in New York. Gendebien, who has denied telling employees to dump dead cows on his property, says Hooper was fired for cause and described him as a “disgruntled former employee.”

In May 2024, Fogarty told Gendebien “do not text Scott again” in a screenshotted text message provided by Gendebien’s campaign. “Or I’ll call the (Department of Environmental Conservation) and tell them ur dumping cows in the river.”

Federal Election Commission records show the Constantino campaign paid a person named Lisa Fogarty $28,000 on Sept. 21, labeled as “GOTV strategy consulting.” Neither Fogarty’s Facebook or LinkedIn pages suggest she has any prior professional experience working on political campaigns.

On Oct. 5, Constantino held a press conference just outside of the district slamming Gendebien for what he alleged was an illegal trash dump on his St. Lawrence County dairy farm, images of which he said he obtained through a private eye he’d hired who’s used a drone.

Constantino also released a signed affidavit appearing to be the testimony of someone saying they were a former employee on Gendebien’s farm for approximately two years, and alleged that Gendebien told them to dump deceased cows near a creek, where the ex-employee said they had seen “numerous” other cattle carcasses. The affidavit he released has a redacted name and signature.

Asked by City & State about the payment to a person named Lisa Fogarty, Constantino declined to go into what specific work was performed, saying “I’m not going to comment on anyone that is contributing to my campaign without their authorization.” Constantino also noted that he spent more than $15 million on the campaign trail – almost all of which is his own money – and called Fogarty’s payment “a fractional amount.”

“I paid people for all sorts of things – sometimes it was just something nice for me,” he added.

Constantino told City & State he directed the private investigators he contracted – the Plattsburgh-based Brooks Investigations Group – to look into Gendebien’s farm after hearing about what he considered evidence of unethical business practices. 

He added that his “private investigators secured the affidavit without (his) involvement,” but admitted his team talked to “multiple neighbors” of Gendebien’s about the alleged “unethical business practices.” Constantino declined to confirm whether Hooper was the affidavit’s author when asked. 

Gendebien’s campaign, however, alleges the affidavit’s filer is Hooper.

“There is only one former disgruntled employee who matches the profile of the affidavit’s filer,” said Gendebien in a statement to City & State. “He and his partner have been threatening to do something like this for many years, as retribution for his firing (for cause).” 

Stuart Amoreill, who ran against Gendebien in the Democratic primary this year, told City & State that Fogarty offered him opposition research regarding dumping allegations in May, but said he passed on it because his campaign didn’t find “any huge evidence” of the dump and questions that arose over what he called Fogarty’s credibility and motives. “She was willing to do a certain amount but then she seemed to be pushing for either money or something else to get it on record,” he added. 

Fogarty and Hooper did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Constantino and his campaign did not respond to follow up requests for comment after the initial interview on Oct. 24. 

The address listed for Fogarty’s consulting payment was not her Lisbon home. It was the same PO Box, in Fonda, New York, listed for Constantino’s campaign in FEC records. 

This comes as the race for New York’s 21st Congressional district is angling to be the most competitive the district has seen since before the incumbent Elise Stefanik first took office over a decade ago.Democratic PACs continue to dump money into a district they’ve largely ignored in previous cycles and Gendebien polled ahead of Constantino in an early October Siena University poll. 

A DEC spokesperson said it investigated the complaint it received on Sept. 3, but “did not witness any violations, and closed the complaint.” Asked to deny or confirm that the affidavit was filed by Hooper, the agency declined to comment further. 

Constantino told City & State that the DEC was reopening the investigation over the weekend, and made a social media post saying the same on Monday. However, the DEC said there was no open investigation as of Tuesday afternoon. 

Constantino protested the DEC’s statement on social media Tuesday evening, posting a four-page document dated Oct. 23 in which Shane Bigelow, his private investigator, wrote that “the DEC representative said he would review the evidence” and that “he anticipated responding later the following week.” The firm’s president, Paula Brooks, said in a statement to City & State that the firm “cannot confirm or deny any client relationship or investigative engagement,” citing confidentiality obligations.

Broadly speaking, it’s clear Fogarty and Hooper are not Gendebien fans. According to public records, Hooper shares a home with Fogarty less than a tenth of a mile from Gendebien’s farm. An Oct. 18 social media video from Constantino’s campaign was filmed on the corner of an intersection that appears to be Fogarty and Hooper’s yard and is narrated by a woman the candidate describes as his “friend” in the video’s description. 

“We can see what Flake Blake had his cronies come and do,” she said, as she pointed the camera at a tipped-over Constantino sign next to a road. “He screwed over the man that lives next door to him, his neighbor.” 

The next day, Constantino appeared on a Watertown-based radio show, where he addressed the video, calling the alleged vandalism “foul play.” Asked if there was a security camera that would have caught the alleged vandal on camera, Constantino said that “these are humble people.” 

“I’m actually going to pay the bills to put security cameras on their house,” he added. “They’re stressed out about the whole situation.”