Chronicle interviews Anthony Constantino

By Ben Westcott & Mark Frost, Chronicle Staff Writer & Editor

Republican NY-21 candidate Anthony Constantino sat down for an interview by The Chronicle editorial staff at our office on Thursday afternoon, Sept. 24.

Mr. Constantino, 43, lives in the Saratoga County Town of Edinburg and is the CEO of the Sticker Mule printed item business in Amsterdam. His opponent is Democrat Blake Gendebien, of Lisbon in St. Lawrence County.

The District is typically Republican — Elise Stefanik is the six-term Republican incumbent who is not seeking reelection — but the Cook Political Report has moved the Constantino-Gendebien race from “Safe Republican” to “Likely Republican,” indicating the seat may be in play.

The Chronicle asked Mr. Constantino, how close is your race? “I don’t think it’s that close.” He said he thinks he’s up “by 10 points.”

“People love me,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it…Enthusiasm in the street for me is through the roof.”

He said “that’s anecdotal evidence, but that anecdotal evidence turned into reality during the primary….”

Asked his major goals if elected, Mr. Constantino said investing in America by upgrading the country’s software systems with a design-first perspective and advocating for R&D to improve American manufacturing; improving cell and internet service in NY-21; getting people to come back to New York State and excited to live in the district; fighting for funding to keep the border secure; and reducing the cost and increasing the quality of healthcare.

“I like tech, I like software,” Mr. Constantino said. “The fundamental thing I like doing in life is making things easier for people.”

“I’m trying to put us on the map, create positive energy for the community. We want to get people coming back here so the tax burden on the rest of us declines and we can support everybody.”

Mr. Constantino says, “2 million New Yorkers have left New York State in the last 10 years. That’s really hurt us badly and that’s due to a lot of policies that are being pushed by the Democrat Party.”

Mr. Constantino said he wants to introduce legislation he’s calling Operation Overhaul, to inventory the country’s software systems, show them to citizens, and get investment to upgrade them.

As an example of a system he’d like overhauled, Mr. Constantino said, “The way you report police is still out of 1980: Call 911, log the call over the phone. Why can’t you go into your iPhone now? You could log into an app and give them a precise, pinpoint location, and they could get the information in two seconds.”

Mr. Constantino also wants the U.S. to invest in engineering for manufacturing.

“Thanks to President Trump and advancements in AI and robotics, we can bring a lot of product lines back to the U.S.,” he said. “I’ve personally been inspired to bring American manufacturing back because of President Trump…. I said this guy was working so hard for us, I should probably work a little harder. And I grew my company very quickly.”

He said Sticker Mule has 1,000 employees, including 500 in Amsterdam, with facilities also in South Carolina and Italy.

“I build my manufacturing processes from scratch,” Mr. Constantino said. “Most people go and buy component machines that are on the market and mix and match them to build their process. But if you really want to get good at a product line and bring costs down so that you can do it in the U.S., we should be investing in R&D to improve American manufacturing.”

He said AI — artificial intelligence —“is going to help us overall. You can’t fight the future. Since the industrial revolution, we’ve had machines, and they just keep getting better and faster. And despite that, we haven’t run out of jobs. We just create more jobs, because we find new ways to do new and interesting things. I think it’s always been the case and always will be the case.

“All this innovation helps us bring costs down to do things in the U.S. again. I think you’re going to see opportunities for wages to grow substantially thanks to AI.

“I don’t think it’s going to replace humans, as much as make a person 20% or 50% more efficient, which should give them an opportunity to go to their boss and ask for a raise. In the long run I think you’re going to see better compensation thanks to AI.”

On health care, The Chronicle asked if Mr. Constantino has concern many local people may lose Medicaid coverage. He said he wants to reduce costs and increase quality in healthcare, and advocated for remote medicine.

“I’ve been injured many times, and the medical systems failed me. I’ve personally resolved the vast majority of my situations with remote medicine. The best doctor in the world isn’t necessarily in your community. I suspect 80% of situations could be resolved with remote medicine.”

“I pay out of pocket for this because I’m in a good situation. I’ve since given my doctor to many people that are in tough situations because sometimes the medical system just isn’t there for them.”

Mr. Constantino said, “I have a lifelong career as a problem solver. President Trump is a proven problem solver. The guy I’m running against, what problem has he ever solved in his life?…

“He never spoke up against any of the bad policies the Democrat Party was doing. Right? He never wanted to stop open borders. Never wanted to stop any of the things that were costing us crazy amounts of money. He didn’t want to stop the crippling shutdowns that hurt us all financially too.”

Mr. Constantino even questions Mr. Gendebien’s being a dairy farmer. “He took $30,000 in campaign money and gave it to his parents to use the farm because it’s not his farm. So he’s using it as a prop. He goes there and then he pays them to go there and take pictures.”
(See response from Gendebien campaign on the next page.)

Asked about Mr. Gendebien saying in his Chronicle interview that he wants to close the border and pursue immigration reform, Mr. Constantino said, “He’s going to lie as much as possible or pretend to be something he’s not. The reality is he voted for Hochul and Kamala. He never once opposed these policies.”

Mr. Constantino contends, “Open borders ravaged the United States of America and ravaged all the people outside of the United States of America that partook in it. You know, some of them got in here and they’re fine, but a lot of them died on the way…Open borders hurt the immigrants too, because when they come here illegally they get human trafficked, raped and murdered on the way, and they also leave their families behind. So when Democrats talk about family separation, they created massive family separation through Biden’s asylum policies.”

Mr. Constantino contended that the dairy farmer Mr. Gendebien is “abusive to these illegal immigrants because they get here and they’re in a precarious situation, and they end up working for him and getting abused.”

Mr. Constantino claims Mr. Gendebien said “illegal immigrants work 16 hour days six-and-a-half days a week because they like to. That’s not true. They do it because they’re in a precarious situation. They feel obligated to do it, or they could lose their status as a citizen in the U.S. He’s taking advantage of these people. I think he’s also being very dishonest.

(See response from Gendebien campaign on the next page.

Mr. Constantino says Mr. Gendebien “wants to present as a moderate. Even if it were true, he’s going to get bullied into submission by the Democrat Party ultimately. I can stand up to my party, I’ve already proven that. Not to wear it as a badge of honor, but there’s two people on my side that are suing me right now.

“I had the entire state Republican Party endorse my opponent (Robert Smullen), and I still won in record fashion. And then I can then go back to the table and become friends with them.”

Mr. Constantino calls himself “a man of the people.” He said, “I’m here to uplift people. I think the number one way to uplift the party is to be with the voters. There’s way more citizens than there are elected officials. The citizens have better feedback than the elected officials, because the elected officials live in a bubble.

“A year ago, I was a citizen. So I’m still sort of looking at this like a citizen, and I want to keep that perspective, and I think I do that by spending a lot of time with the people.”

Mr. Constantino said President Trump and the Republican Party have “solved tremendous problems in the last two years,” citing “closing” the border and getting the homicide rate to “the lowest level in 100 years” and “stopping eight wars.”

He added, “We were battling for free speech a few years ago when they were censoring everything. That’s kind of dead now. There was this moment where everybody was getting kicked off the Internet. If that moment kept moving forward, we were going to be in a really dark place.”

Mr. Constantino said he empathizes with President Trump. “I think the media piles on and influences the thinking of the citizens. Whenever anyone has a really difficult job, the people watching that person do that job are going to find things they don’t like. And I just try to tell people, you have to look at the presidency as a whole, and he’s done some things that he should be commended for.”

He said, “I know people would like lower gas prices, but I don’t think the Democrat Party has the answer to that particular problem. The overall average price of gasoline is lower under President Trump’s term than it was under Biden’s administration. It was very bad then too. It’s rich for people that caused horrible problems to be like ‘hey, we can fix these.’”

He called the Democratic Party “a proven problem creator.”

“I feel like what the Democrat Party did under Joe Biden was horrific. I think they really hurt the country. The open borders are inexcusable. Promotion of transgenderism to young people was out of control. The defund the police movement. The Democrat Party has consistently not fought for the American people. They’ve often fought for illegal immigrants.”

He said the Democratic Party in New York “shut down the state, did forced masks, viciously fired anybody that refused to vaccinate, viciously fired people that refused to mask, viciously put masks on children when they didn’t need them.”

“We lost a million people during that whole process. That is what is costing us massively in New York State,” Mr. Constantino argued. “Gas prices and interest rates are temporary situations.”

On the U.S. relationship with Canada, Mr. Constantino said, “I’ve never had an issue with President Trump aggressively negotiating with anybody, because I do the same thing, and I think you can aggressively negotiate and come back and be friends. Inter-country negotiations are always going to be tough and difficult and then at the end of the day you come to be friends….I think President Trump’s a good negotiator, and I support him negotiating with Canada and anybody else.”

On tariffs, Mr. Constantino said, “I want the president to be able to use all negotiating tools. We also have experienced American manufacturing being ripped out of New York State.

“I’m an expert on empty buildings. I found a bunch of empty buildings and I filled them back up. Prior to me, those buildings were filled with businesses that left and went to China.

“We have a lot of situations where we’re being tariffed unfairly, and President Trump’s trying to negotiate to get that fixed.”
Asked about the Iran war, Mr. Constantino said, “I don’t like judging situations without knowing all the facts. We don’t know everything that President Trump knows in order to make decisions….Matters of war and peace are very difficult. It’s just a complicated thing.”

On Israel, he said, “I don’t really see the [military] aid there being an issue.”

On solar panels on farmland, Mr. Constantino said, “I think solar energy is good, but it just doesn’t make sense to put it on farmland. People are talking about harvesting solar energy from outer space now, which is great, because there’s infinite space in outer space, so you’re not really bothering anybody if you can figure out how to put the panels up there….

“Farmland’s a limited resource. We want to support farmers so they can grow crops and raise their animals. And the protection of farmland is a national security concern for us, because we want to be able to make our own food. You don’t want a country where you’re dependent on food from somebody else, because you have no leverage anymore.”

On Flock surveillance cameras, he said, “I’d like to research that one a little more, because I see both sides to it. You want people to be safe. It’s really hard to fight the future. You want safety, but I’m also a privacy guy. I’ve resisted security cameras at my business. I follow the golden rule. I wouldn’t want a camera watching me all day if I was working, so we didn’t do security cameras at Sticker Mule.”

Asked his favorite president, Mr. Constantino said, “George Washington. Most honorable. I like humility, so the fact that he stepped away and gave us what we have today, you’ve got to give him a lot of credit for that.”

On President Trump’s recent banning of CNN, Politico and MS NOW from the White House, Mr. Constantino said, “I think it’s fine. I have similar frustrations with the media….If you look at the president’s statement on the situation, he also asked for the media to improve. He didn’t say I’m done with you forever. It’s undeniable there were a lot of hoaxes pushed by some of these outlets, and those hoaxes really hurt the U.S. The big channels that push all these hoaxes I think are to blame for a lot of the animosity in this country.”

Mr. Constantino also faults local media. He posted Sept. 18 that he has “taken legal action against the Daily Gazette and Watertown Daily Times.” He contends the Daily Times “invented fake [Sticker Mule] employees to smear me” and that the Daily Gazette published “lies that I sell violent stickers when, in reality, my company’s policies prohibit violent designs.”

Mr. Constantino also condemned as “fake” the Aug. 13 SurveyUSA poll sponsored by WNYT NewsChannel 13 that showed Mr. Gendebien at 43%, Mr. Constantino at 39%, and independent write-in Christopher Schmidt at 5%.

“I felt that was a scheme,” he said. “They had a non-ballot candidate on there.” He says he’s been told “possibly millions of dollars were raised off of that poll,” by indicating a close race, which increases donations and leads to greater ad spending, which he said benefits the TV station.

About the media he said, “They criticize me and I get to criticize them. So if they’re doing something I think is unethical or harmful to our citizens, it’s my responsibility to say something about it.”

The Chronicle asked Mr. Constantino about Philip Perry, fiance of Clinton County Republican Committee Chair Jerika Manning, suing him for defamation. Mr. Constantino erroneously posted that Mr. Perry was arrested in Lake Placid in 2021 on charges of driving under the influence and had previously been convicted for DUI. That was a different Mr. Perry, first name Phillip, not Philip.

“Anyone can make mistakes,” Mr. Constantino told The Chronicle. “There was a one ‘L’ difference, and they lived 30 minutes from each other.”

Mr. Constantino accuses Chairwoman Manning of “ceding her seat” to Mr. Perry. He says it was Mr. Perry who interviewed him and organized a Republican committee meeting during the primary process, not Ms. Manning. He called Mr. Perry “an unelected bully that hits people in the head with bike helmets,” citing a 2008 incident at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh in which Mr. Perry was arrested for assault but the charges were dismissed.

As to his own demeanor on social media, Mr. Constantino said, “I’m very aggressive and assertive in my rhetoric when I’m criticizing things that I think are harmful to the country, but I’m not criticizing people. I’m criticizing parties. I do at times point out examples of human beings that cross a line and extend into violence-provoking behavior. But in my mind, I’m trying to encourage people not to behave that way….”

Asked who will run Sticker Mule if he wins, Mr. Constantino said, “My team runs it. They run it without me right now. I’m doing this 24/7.”

Constantino agrees to 2 debates; Gendebien ‘in conversations’

Anthony Constantino told The Chronicle he has committed to participating in debates with CBS6 and Spectrum, but that Mr. Gendebien has not yet agreed to them.

Mr. Constantino rejected a debate jointly proposed by WNYT, the Albany Times-Union, and public broadcasters WMHT and WAMC. He said he won’t work with WNYT because he contends a poll they commissioned early in the election process was bogus.

We reached out to the Gendebien camp. Communications Director Maeve Kelly said, “We’re still in conversations with the stations. Anthony demanded a massive arena where he could pack the crowd with his own supporters. He told Channel 13 there would be no debate at all until the station refunded donations over a poll he didn’t like, then called its general manager a coward for good measure.”

Gendebien campaign responds to some Constantino contentions

The Chronicle offered the Blake Gendebien campaign the chance to respond to some charges Anthony Constantino made against him.

Chronicle: Anthony Constantino said you took $30,000 in campaign money and gave it to your parents to use to farm, because it’s not your farm. “He’s using [the farm] as a prop,” he claimed. What is your response?

Maeve Kelly, the Gendebien campaign Communications Director, responded. She wrote, “Blake has been a dairy farmer his entire life. He started Twin Mill Farms with his dad, and it’s how his family makes their living. It isn’t a prop. Anthony is scared to run against a farmer who actually connects with voters in the district, so he keeps lying about Blake’s livelihood. The campaign rents space from Twin Mill Farms LLC, which has been our headquarters for the past 21 months. Because Blake is not the sole owner, federal law requires the campaign to pay fair market rent rather than use the space for free. We’ve answered this on the record many times, and the answer hasn’t changed: we are simply following the law.”

Chronicle: Anthony Constantino said that you are “abusive” to “illegal immigrants” because “they get here and they’re in a precarious situation, and they end up working for [you] and getting abused.”

Maeve Kelly: That’s just completely false, and it’s absurd for Anthony to suggest that North Country farmers abuse the people who work for them. Farmers across this district work side by side with their employees every day, and this is an insult to all of them. Anthony should spend less time smearing farmers and more time explaining why he’s cheering on tariffs and health care cuts that are hurting our farms and families. Blake has the support of over 20 unions because he stands with working people and their right to organize for fair wages, fair hours, and fair benefits.”

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