Matthew A. Doheny has heard most of the rumors about his potential candidacy for Congress. And now there's a couple of things he'd like to clear up.
Yes, the attorney is interested in being the Republican Party's nominee for the 23rd District seat. Running for Congress is something he's considered seriously for the past year, he said.
No, Mr. Doheny can't foot the bill for the entire campaign himself, unless "Bessie," that 1994 Ford Explorer he drives around, has a far greater trade-in value than he's aware of.
Yes, he owns a house on Watertown's Paddock Street. But Mr. Doheny actually lives on an island near Goose Bay, not far from where he grew up.
Yes, he works in New York City and resides there during the week. Actually, that was true until recently. The 38-year-old is on a leave of absence from Fintech Advisory, a small investment partnership. There he helped purchase debt of troubled companies, assisted in a restructuring and in the process, earned a return on the partnership's original investment.
Before joining Fintech, Mr. Doheny did similar work as a managing director at Deutsche Bank, New York City.
The attorney now is looking for office space in downtown Watertown, but no, that's not going to double as a campaign headquarters.
The Alexandria Bay resident has never served on a town board, a county legislature or in the state Assembly. But Mr. Doheny is promoting himself as a "different face," one whose business and finance know-how might make him best suited to be a congressman during a troubled time.
If others don't agree, that's fine with him.
"I want to do what's best for the party and what's best for the north country," he said. "If I'm not the best person for the district, I will gladly throw my support behind whoever is."
Mr. Doheny has sent letters to Republican chairmen in the congressional district's 11 counties. He's also had sit-down meetings to introduce himself to local county lawmakers and GOP-friendly groups.
"I was actually very excited when I left the meeting," said Jefferson County Young Republicans President Brian S. Peck, who met Mr. Doheny on Wednesday. "I liked that he's younger. And I like his fiscal stance and his experience in that area. We really need to have people that have that expertise."
Sandra L. Corey, Jefferson County Republican Party chairwoman, met Mr. Doheny last week.
"He is a very good guy and I think he'd do a very good job if he were selected," she said.
But she said she will let her committee members decide on a candidate. Mrs. Corey will take that name to a meeting of the 11 county chairpersons, where the nominee will emerge.
The party is organizing four meetings — tentatively scheduled for Gouverneur, southern Oswego, Tupper Lake and a town to be named later — for prospective candidates to make their pitches to committee members in person. This is all being done in anticipation of a special election, although Gov. David A. Paterson has the ultimate say-so on whether that will happen.
In the interim, Mr. Doheny has put together what he's calling "an exploratory campaign committee," a group that includes John L. Cordo, a lobbyist and former Senate majority staffer; Jeffrey Buley, a lobbyist and former attorney for the state GOP, and Brendan Quinn, a former state Republican Party executive director.
Mr. Doheny said he's also opening a campaign bank account, but denied a New York Daily News report that it will be started with $250,000 of his own money.
"Will I contribute capital of my own because I believe in the mission? Absolutely," he said, without offering an exact figure. "I will contribute resources as well as be able to raise money in the north country and everywhere south, east and west."
