A sworn statement filed with New York State Police accuses a Democrat running for Congress of ordering dead cattle rolled into a creek on his farm, raising fresh questions about a campaign trying to flip Rep. Elise Stefanik’s old House seat.
Story Snapshot
- A former employee’s sworn statement claims Blake Gendebien directed workers to dump 20 to 30 dead cattle into a creek over time.
- Republican opponent Anthony Constantino’s private investigators filed the complaint with state police and released aerial photos of debris on the farm.
- New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation visited the farm on September 3 and reported no violations.
- Gendebien says he has already been cleared and accuses Constantino’s camp of “weirdo drone stalking.”
- State police confirm the complaint remains under investigation as the race for the north country House seat heats up.
Sworn Statement Alleges Years of Illegal Dumping
An unnamed former employee signed a statement accusing Gendebien of ordering dead cattle disposed of in a creek on his property. The worker wrote he personally estimated “around twenty to thirty dead cattle were disposed of there” during his time on the farm. The statement became part of a formal complaint submitted to New York State Police, giving the allegation a real paper trail instead of just campaign chatter.
This is not a vague littering complaint. New York law requires dead cattle to be buried or disposed of in a sanitary manner, not rolled into a waterway. If the sworn account is accurate, it would mean a congressional candidate broke basic environmental rules meant to protect clean water for his own neighbors and district.
Private Investigators Flew Drones Over the Farm
Constantino’s campaign hired private investigators who flew drones over Gendebien’s property and captured images of tires, concrete slabs, and other debris near a marshy area. Those images were sent to news outlets as supporting evidence for the dumping claims. State police confirmed they received the complaint and said the matter remains under investigation, though they have not announced any findings.
Despite the dramatic claims, the drone footage itself does not show carcasses being dumped into water, according to one station’s review of the material. That gap matters. Photos of junk on a farm are not proof of the specific crime alleged in the sworn statement, and voters deserve to know the difference between suspicious debris and documented wrongdoing.
State Regulators Say They Found Nothing
New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation told reporters its officers inspected the farm on September 3 and did not identify any violations. Gendebien’s campaign pointed to that visit as proof he has already been cleared, telling reporters flatly, “we’ve been cleared of any wrongdoing by the DEC”.
Gendebien Fires Back at Campaign Tactics
Gendebien dismissed the entire episode as a political stunt rather than a genuine environmental concern. He told reporters the drone operation showed his opponent “doesn’t know anything about what farming is all about in the north country in upstate New York,” and suggested Constantino should instead explain why felons travel with his campaign. His campaign separately said he follows all state disposal laws for deceased cattle.
The fight is unfolding in a district Democrats desperately want to flip after years of Stefanik representing it, which means every accusation gets filtered through a partisan lens before voters ever see a fact pattern. That reality cuts both ways. A real environmental violation by a candidate seeking a House seat deserves scrutiny no matter who raises it first. But an unverified sworn statement from an unnamed witness, paired with a state inspection that found no violations, is not a closed case either way.
What voters in New York’s north country actually need is simple: the full complaint file, the identity and credibility of the former employee, and real water or soil testing, not dueling press releases. Until state police finish their investigation and release concrete findings, this remains an open allegation against a candidate seeking the public’s trust, not a proven case of someone fouling the district’s waterways.
Sources:
thegatewaypundit.com, nypost.com, us.headtopics.com, mynbc5.com
