Matt Doheny

former New York House Candidate (R)

Why He Matters

In 2010, Doheny, who made his money on Wall Street by retooling failing companies, challenged Rep. Bill Owens (D) for the seat that Owens had won just a year prior, in a 2009 special election. Owens held onto the seat, but not without a tough fight from Doheny.

New York's 23rd district covers the state's "North Country," which stretches up to the Canadian border and through much of the Adirondack Mountains. The Republican Party lost control of the district in 2009, when Rep. John McHugh (R) became Army secretary in the Obama administration.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Fintech Advisory, Portfolio Manager (2008-current); Deutsche Bank, Managing Director for Trouble Assets (2000-2008); Attorney, Hancock & Estabrook, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, and Kelley Drye & Warren (1995-2000)
Birthday: July 1970
Hometown: Alexandria Bay, N.Y.

Alma Mater: Allegheny College, BA, 1992; Cornell Law School, J.D., 1995
Spouse: Single

Path To Power

Doheny grew up in Alexandria Bay, a town in the Thousand Islands region, just south of the Canadian border, where as a young man he worked docking boats for a tour company.

A hockey goalie and a focused student, he planned from an early age to get out of town, make some money and come home, with an eye to one day join Congress. At Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, he studied political science and served for two years as the student-body president.

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After college, Doheny returned to upstate New York to attend law school at Cornell University. In the five years after graduating, he worked at a Syracuse law firm and two firms in New York City before deciding that he was better suited for a business career. By 2000, he was working on Wall Street.

Wall Street

In New York, Doheny worked hard and saved money.

At Deutsche Bank, he joined the "distressed products group," tackling the problems of insolvent or suffering companies. He would rise to become the managing director for troubled assets, and dealt with companies like Pacific Gas & Eletctric and Adelphia, which went bankrupt in 2002 after executives engaged in what the SEC called "one of the most extensive financial frauds ever to take place at a public company."

In New York, Doheny lived in neighborhoods like Murray Hill and Kips Bay, both less-than-hip areas popular with young professionals. Doheny traveled extensively for his job, he has said: he was away so often that he was twice sued for failing to pay rent on time.

"These are just honest-to-goodness mistakes," he told The Watertown Daily Times in 2010. "I used to travel quite extensively and work nonstop. I can pay my rent."

Indeed, by 2003, he had been able to purchase an island near his hometown. Shamrock Island set him back $360,000; in 2007, a second piece of land, Caprice Island came with a $335,000 price taag. (The island got him into trouble during the 2010 campaign, after local media began asking about two charges he received in 2004 for "boating while intoxicated.")

In 2008, Doheny left Deutsche Bank for Fintech Advisory, an investment-advisory group based in New York, which 2009 paid Doheny more than $7 million.

2010 House Campaign

When Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y) vacated his seat to join the Obama administration, Doheny saw an opportunity to pursue a longtime goal of going to Washington and ran for the Republican nomination for the 2009 special election.

While national conservative figures like Sarah Palin backed Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman, Doheny continued to support the official Republican Party candidate Dede Scozzafava, who ultimately dropped out of the race and endorsed Democratic Party candidate Bill Owens (who won).

In 2010, Doheny again ran for the Republican Party's nomination, this time himself facing Hoffman, who had substantial backing from tea party-affiliated groups. After Doheny secured the nomination, Hoffman initially pledged to stay in the race, but eventually dropped out, throwing his support behind Doheny.

Doheny's campaign was particularly well-funded, as he drew financial support not just from his district, but from his Wall Street network and from his own pocket. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, as of fall 2010, Doheny had sunk at least $1.69 million of his own funds--or 65 percent of total money raised--into his 2010 campaign.

The Issues

During the 2010 campaign, Doheny hewed to a fairly standard set of Republican views on a range of issues, like cap-and-trade, which he opposed, the Bush tax cuts, which he said he would extend indefinitely, and the war in Afghanistan, which he said he'd prefer to let military leaders end, rather than set a timetable for withdrawal. He is also in favor of repealing the 2010 health-care law.

During the 2010 campaign, Doheny said he supported abortion rights, although he was against late-term procedures. He iwas generally in favor of renewing No Child Left Behind, although he wanted to ensure that schools retain autonomy and flexibility.

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The Network

Doheny's career on Wall Street has connected him to the financial industry. During the 2010 campaign, 2008 presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney endorsed him. He also participated in the NRCC's "Young Guns" program.

Doheny has supported a handful of national candidates, but his true investment has been in New York politics. He gave $2,300 to both Rudy Giuliani's 2007 campaign and now-Sen. Scott Brown's (R-Mass.) 2010 Senate campaign. He also supported the Club for Growth a few smaller donations from 2004-2006.

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