Lt. Col. (Ret.) Anthony Costanza: The Irondequoit Standard

The moment demanded backbone, and Lt. Col. (Ret.) Anthony Costanza brought it. An immigrant son who wore the uniform, led in Special Operations, earned a TS/SCI, chose custody of his child over another promotion, and now walks the legal K-1 visa path with his fiancée because law and order are not suggestions. That is the standard.

The record, clean and cold: no grand-jury indictment. A former DA filed a prosecutor’s information. The grand jury did not indict. His counsel issued a cease-and-desist. A motion to dismiss was filed on July 29. Words matter because lies travel on headlines and ruin men by design.

He put the assessor’s office under the same light he puts on himself. Independent third-party appraisals for his own property to remove discretion. Later appraisals showed it was overvalued by about $30,000. In six weeks he delivered a 30-page report showing how lower and middle-income families were overassessed while high-end properties slid. Then he cut the department budget by 11%. Stewardship is not a slogan. It is work.

He pledged a 10% pay cut as supervisor because reform starts at the top. He demanded FOIL responses instead of stonewalling. On safety, he refused theatrics: listen to subject-matter experts, enforce the law equally, and keep families safe. On governance, he rejected the whisper network that strangles small business and tells citizens to wait their turn while permits gather dust.

Irondequoit is diverse, heavily taxed, and tired of curated outrage. Costanza is on the doors in 14609 and across the town because trust is earned face to face, not in press releases. Debate challenges are open. Adults face questions. Keyboard warriors do not run communities.

One line from the show said the quiet part out loud: “Nowadays, exposing evil is considered more evil than those who actually do evil.” If that unsettles you, good. Conscience confirmed.

Listen. Share. Then demand what you would teach your own children: truth before comfort, service before self, and equal justice without exceptions. That is how a town regains its integrity. That is how a nation remembers who it is.