The Conservative Party candidate in the 2010 campaign to represent the North Country in Congress has endorsed his Republican former opponent to take the seat from the Democrat who won it.

Doug Hoffman, the Lake Placid accountant who might have tilted the balance to Democrat Rep. Bill Owens in the 2010 race, has endorsed Republican Matt Doheny, the third man in the last election, to challenge Owens this November.

The Doheny campaign made the announcement in a copyrighted press release today.

“The future of our country is too important to remain silent,” said Hoffman, who came close winning a 2009 special election for the seat which Owens won. When he was nominated Hoffman was backed by tea party supporters and many Republicans who were dissatisfied with the Republican candidate, then-Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava of Gouverneur.

On the eve of the election, Scozzafava dropped out of the race and endorsed Democrat Owens.

“Bill Owens is mortgaging my children’s and grandchildren’s future and he must be stopped,” said Hoffman, who declined to run again himself. “And Matt Doheny is exactly the type of guy who can stop him and bring a little fiscal sanity back to Congress.”

Hoffman is a Saranac Lake native, a military veteran and a small business owner. He and Doheny squared off in a nationally watched Republican primary in 2010.

“I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure Matt Doheny is elected this year,” said Hoffman. “That starts with urging all of my friends and past supporters to vote for Matt in the November election.”

“Doug Hoffman has been a great advocate of conservative Republican values and he is well respected among many of the residents of the new 21st Congressional District,” said Doheny, a former investment banker and now a Watertown businessman.

“I am very pleased to have his support. Together, we stand united against the job-killing agenda of higher taxes and more regulation being pushed by my opponent.”