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It's official: Watertown's Doheny to try again for 23rd Congressional District seat

Posted 9/21/11

WATERTOWN – Watertown businessman Matt Doheny has filed the paperwork necessary to try again to win the 23rd Congressional District seat now held by Plattsburgh Democrat Bill Owens. Republican …

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It's official: Watertown's Doheny to try again for 23rd Congressional District seat

Posted

WATERTOWN – Watertown businessman Matt Doheny has filed the paperwork necessary to try again to win the 23rd Congressional District seat now held by Plattsburgh Democrat Bill Owens.

Republican Doheny seeks to gain the position won by Owens in the 2010 contest that included Owens, Doheny, and Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman of Saranac Lake.

“While my campaign may technically start today, I’ve been out listening to residents all over northern and Central New York since last November,” Doheny said.

“People continue to worry about our country’s lack of forward progress. We need good paying jobs. But President Obama and his allies continue to stifle growth by pushing an agenda that leads to higher taxes and bigger deficits. That just creates more burdens for both average Americans and for our future generations.”

Doheny is an investor who for a Fortune 500 company for eight years. His campaign staff says that "he had an up-close look at why American businesses failed and gained an expertise in finding ways to turn those troubled companies around."

Since leaving that position, Doheny has formed his own investment firm, North Country Capital, which his campaign says is to help start-ups create jobs locally.

The campaign staff, in the candidacy announcement, said Doheny believes Congress needs more businessmen "who understand how our economy works and how we can reverse the current crisis of confidence that Americans feel. He will put the knowledge gained from his private sector career into a pro-growth plan that will create incentives for businesses to get back in the game."

The announcement said Doheny "understands Washington does not have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem," a standard Republican Party theme.

The announcement said the candidate wants a "safety net, but one that is within our country’s means and does not simply defer problems and put the burdens on generations to come."

Doheny, 41, was raised in Alexandria Bay. He is a graduate of Allegheny College and received a law degree at Cornell University. After practicing law in Syracuse, he was employed by Deutsche Bank, managing the accounts roughly 130 individuals and helped the banks program of purchasing large companies.

In 2008, he joined Fintech Advisory, a money management firm. He also teaches a finance class at Clarkson University, after having previously taught a business course at Jefferson Community College.

Doheny was the Republican and Independence parties’ candidate in the 23rd Congressional District race in 2010. With just 1,990 votes separating Doheny from incumbent Democrat Bill Owens, the House race was one of the 10 closest in the nation last year.

The 23rd District includes all of St. Lawrence County and encompasses an area from Lake Ontario to Lake Champlain and into the central Adirondacks.