Matt Doheny
KISSING BABES: Matt Doheny, running in an upstate congressional race, just got engaged — but not to the gal he’s kissing in a DC bar. (
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He’s a hands-on candidate.
Matt Doheny, a newly engaged Republican running in the 23rd Congressional District upstate, was recently spotted partying in a DC bar with two women, groping both and kissing one.
Neither one was his fiancée.
The Post has obtained a video of Doheny with his arms around the women after last week’s GOP candidate retreat in Washington.
His hand can be seen sliding over the backside of Monica Notzon, a fund-raising consultant to his campaign.
And a picture posted on gawker.com shows them smooching at the bar.
The video and photo didn’t come as a shock to some GOP insiders. They described the former Wall Street investor as a party-hearty kind of guy.
“He’s your Wall Street-type — go, go, go, work hard, play hard,” said a GOP official. “You might be able to do that on Wall Street, but not as an elected official.”
Doheny was arrested twice in 2004 for boating while impaired on the St. Lawrence River. He was so belligerent once that cops handcuffed him, reports state.
The candidate declined comment yesterday. Instead, his campaign repeated a statement released after the kiss photo surfaced.
“These pictures demonstrate nothing more than two old friends joking around as they sat with other friends,” said campaign spokesman Jude Seymour.
“It’s sad that Democratic operatives would lay in wait as a group of friends enjoyed a nice evening. But then, the Washington special interests will stop at nothing to keep [incumbent] Bill Owens in Congress.”
Mary Reidy, meanwhile, stood by the man she is to wed in June.
“I am saddened at the state of journalism and politics,” she said via a campaign statement.
Owens narrowly defeated Doheny two years ago when a Conservative Party candidate took 6 percent of the vote from the GOP.
Still, sources said, Doheny is playing with fire in the wake of recent sexcapades involving New York congressmen.
Ex-Queens Rep. Anthony Weiner, once seen as a top candidate for mayor, resigned after a sexting scandal with young women.
Married former upstate Rep. Chris Lee quit after being found trolling for dates on Craigslist.
Ex-Staten Island GOP Rep. Vito Fossella stepped down after a DWI arrest and the revelation that he had a mistress and a love child in DC.
And former upstate Rep. Erik Massa left office following reports that he’d had inappropriate relations with male members of his staff.