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Rep. Owens making fundraising appeal to help beat ‘self-funder’ Doheny in NY 23rd

Posted 6/30/11

Rep. Bill Owens has put out an appeal for campaign funds to defeat “self-funder” Matt Doheny and tea party candidate Kelly Eustis. In a note to supporters, Owens is asking for help to keep his …

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Rep. Owens making fundraising appeal to help beat ‘self-funder’ Doheny in NY 23rd

Posted

Rep. Bill Owens has put out an appeal for campaign funds to defeat “self-funder” Matt Doheny and tea party candidate Kelly Eustis.

In a note to supporters, Owens is asking for help to keep his 23rd Congressional District seat in a rematch 16 months from now with Watertown businessman Matt Doheny.

In his note, Owens, a first-term Democrat from Plattsburgh, wrote, “I currently have two challengers gearing up to take back this seat and one is the self-funder from last year that spent more the $2 million trying. He has said that he will ‘spend whatever and do whatever’ it takes to win.” The self-funder he refers to is Doheny, who ran as a Republican, and lost narrowly in the three-way contest that included tea-party favorite Doug Hoffman of Lake Placid.

The third candidate he referred to in this next contest is Kelly Eustis, a Plattsburgh native, former SUNY Potsdam student, and executive director of a political action committee affiliated with the tea party movement, One Nation. He has announced his intention to run.

“I know it’s early, but today is the end of the quarter, an important fundraising deadline, and your support would go a long way to reaching our goal,” Owens wrote. “Would you consider another contribution today to help us prepare a winning campaign?”

The huge 23rd Congressional District covers an area from Lake Ontario to Lake Champlain and deep into the central Adirondacks. The seat was held by Rep. John McHugh when President Obama appointed him as Secretary of the Army two years ago. Owens was appointed to fill the seat, and he ran successfully to keep it in 2010.