Rep.

Alex Cornell du Houx issued this statement regarding his candidacy on June 19: PRESS RELEASE Maine Democratic Party Chairman shoots his party in the foot by bringing up a non-issue Ben Grant never even bothered to talk to Rep. Cornell du Houx about the complaint that was dismissed by the court or about how his campaign is going Since the temporary protection order filed against Rep. Cornell du Houx by his former fianc Rep. Erin Herbig was dismissed and withdrawn from the Belfast court on May 14, 2012 the press has not written about the issue, until June 18, 2012. After all the police officially stopped the investigation and as Steve Mistler of the Portland Press Herald reported the police never even interviewed Cornell du Houx about the situation. Political insiders all say once its out of the press let it will die down. But Democratic Party Chairman of Maine, Ben Grant, publicly denounced Rep. Cornell du Houx yesterday without ever contacting the state Representative about the issue. Bens desire for me to withdraw from my reelection bid is a complete surprise to me. It is so unprofessional of him to make a public statement without ever talking directly to me about this incident, said Rep. Cornell du Houx. Rep. Cornell du Houx said in Steve Mistlers June 18, 2012, PPH article that Grant, claims, 'We don't know what the facts are,' but the public does as no charges were ever brought and the police never bothered to interview me. If he needed more facts he could have called me or talked to me campaigning door to door."

Mistler wrote, Grant said party leaders aren't the judge and jury, but they could not ignore the political reality of an issue that makes Cornell du Houx vulnerable, even in Democraticdominated District 66. So instead of researching the facts and sitting down with the State Representative of District 66, as the head of any political Party should have done, Grant made the issue public again and did act as a judge. No one at the Maine Democratic Party ever asked Cornell du Houxs about how his reelection bid was going. They have been silent until making this public again, said Rep. Cornell du Houx. Ben Grant lives in Topsham, just across the bridge from Brunswick. He should have told me his concerns. His inability to communicate with me shows a complete lack of leadership. Hes a lawyer, he should know better. Communication is everything. Thats what Ive been doing in Brunswickcommunicating with my constituents. I didnt think I needed to call Ben until I met with everyone I could in Brunswick. I thought the Party had my back. I put the people of my community first. Further into the article Grant said, What we do know are the political facts and we do know what a distraction is when it comes to an electoral season. A blogger called Independent Mainer on the articles website blog noted, Well Ben, Bravo; it's a BIG statewide distraction now. Both major paper's websites have the story as the lead. This is what happens when a party lacks strong leadership. In fact all three of Maine Todays papers ran the headline online. Political facts are more important than actual facts. Thanks for confirming my suspicions, Mr. Grant, said a blogger known as mainer207.

These are the people of Maine voicing the obvious. Its clear to me and clear to the party that at this moment and time his (Cornell du Houxs) energies are probably best spent straightening out his personal life, Grant stated. As the PPH reported currently Rep. Cornell du Houx is in Australia leading a cross-cultural State Department trip for veterans and delegates for Brunswick and Maine. Its a State Department trip to foster government-to-government relations. We will meet with their parliament, administration, and non-governmental organizations for two weeks, and then they will then come to the United States to do the same, said the Representative. Last year Cornell du Houx traveled to Malaysia and Indonesia in a similar manner. At the beginning of June he, helped the Inaugural Young Leaders Climate Action Network program, which brought elected officials and future leaders from across the nation together to combat climate change, said Cornell du Houx. Since the legislature adjourned he has been knocking on doors, meeting constituents and attending conferences for the people of Maine. On Election Day he greeted people at the polls. Clearly Rep. Cornell du Houx is working for the people of his community, Maine and the nation. Taking time on personal issues as Grant suggested is not doing the work of the people. Cornell du Houx joined the Marine Reserve and was deployed to Iraq in 2006, In December 2011, Rep. Cornell du Houx received a commission as an officer in the Navy Reserve.

In the military service personal know that they all have each others backs and not to divide their unit. By revisiting this issue publicly Grant has continued to divide the party. The Maine Democratic Partys new battle call is, We have your back. That clearly is not the case here. Cornell du houx passed a law to weatherize the Statehouse, which will save taxpayers money and shows that we can lead by example. He was also successful in passing legislation to reduce the states dependency on oil, which improves our energy security and economic security. Gov. LePage praised another law of his that protects oil and gas consumers. He also worked on many veterans issues, including the first ever women veterans memorial at the Statehouse and women veterans recognition program to honor their service. Cornell du Houx serves on the Energy, Technology and Utilities Committee, is chair of the Veterans Caucus, and past vice-chair of the National Conference of State Legislatures Agriculture and Energy Committee. He is also a member of the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators. ###