BRUNSWICK — Two state lawmakers-turned-lovers, Reps. Alex Cornell du Houx and Erin Herbig, have reached a private agreement to settle their legal differences.

Both legislators declined to discuss the details of the pact, which was reached late on May 11.

On Monday, May 14, Herbig, a Belfast Democrat, withdrew a request in Belfast District Court for an order of protection from abuse against Cornell du Houx, who announced he had requested a leave of absence for the last few days of the legislative session.

“Last week, before we came to an agreement, I informed leadership that I will be taking an excused absence for the next few days,” the Brunswick Democrat said.

Herbig and Cornell du Houx were involved in a romantic relationship, but when the relationship went sour, Herbig claimed Cornell du Houx stalked her and invaded her privacy in various ways, despite repeated warnings from legislative leadership and Herbig’s attorney, Chris MacLean.

Maine State Police opened an investigation into her allegations, but they closed the case on May 11.

“It’s over,” spokesman Stephen McCausland of the Maine Bureau of Public Safety said. “There will be no enforcement action.”

Herbig and Cornell du Houx have each said they intend to seek re-election this year.

“I’ve dedicated myself to the people of Brunswick as a lawmaker and to my country as an officer in the Navy,” Cornell du Houx said. “I am looking forward to continuing to serve in the Legislature and running for office.”

Cornell du Houx recently ended a three-year stint at the Truman National Security Project in Washington, D.C., where he said he traveled the country to recruit and train future leaders, elected officials, their staff, nonprofits, and others involved in national security issues and climate change.(for more on Cornell du Houx’s work at Truman click here.)

On May 9, his sister, Rebecca Cornell du Houx said that Herbig had contacted the Truman Project in an effort to discredit him.

“Erin called his boss in D.C. and told him she thought Alex had (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). I find that unconscionable. … It’s awful this has happened, and totally unjustified.”

Cornell du Houx said he voluntarily left the Truman project.

“I left the Truman National Security Project to focus on my re-election efforts,” he said.

Cornell du Houx made his first public appearance in Brunswick after the controversy, when he attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday for the town’s new train station.

“I went to the Amtrak opening and it was very heartening when members of the community came to to voice their support,” he said. “I am extremely grateful for all the community support I have received.”

Herbig said that she, too, has been buoyed by public reaction.

“I want to thank my family, colleagues, constituents and people from all across the state for their support and encouragement in this very difficult process,” she said in a prepared statement following the agreement.

Cornell du Houx said he will be leaving on a trip to Australia to lead a delegation of veterans to foster international relations later this month, but that it is not a result of the agreement.

“That’s been in the works for about nine months,” he said. “I’ve done previous trips to Malaysia and Indonesia in a similar manner.”

by Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at matthh@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @hh_matt.

UPDATE: for some unknown reason Hongoltz-Hetling edited his article on line taking out Rebecca Cornell du Houx’s comments of May 9, 2012

This is now how the article reads on the Forcaster’s website:

Family releases psych evaluation of embattled Brunswick Rep. Cornell du Houx

BRUNSWICK — Two state lawmakers-turned-lovers, Reps. Alex Cornell du Houx and Erin Herbig, have reached a private agreement to settle their legal differences.

Both legislators declined to discuss the details of the pact, which was reached late on May 11.

On Monday, May 14, Herbig, a Belfast Democrat, withdrew a request in Belfast District Court for an order of protection from abuse against Cornell du Houx, who announced he had requested a leave of absence for the last few days of the legislative session.

“Last week, before we came to an agreement, I informed leadership that I will be taking an excused absence for the next few days,” the Brunswick Democrat said.

Herbig and Cornell du Houx were involved in a romantic relationship, but when the relationship went sour, Herbig claimed Cornell du Houx stalked her and invaded her privacy in various ways, despite repeated warnings from legislative leadership and Herbig’s attorney, Chris MacLean.

Maine State Police opened an investigation into her allegations, but they closed the case on May 11.

“It’s over,” spokesman Stephen McCausland of the Maine Bureau of Public Safety said. “There will be no enforcement action.”

Herbig and Cornell du Houx have each said they intend to seek re-election this year.

“I’ve dedicated myself to the people of Brunswick as a lawmaker and to my country as an officer in the Navy,” Cornell du Houx said. “I am looking forward to continuing to serve in the Legislature and running for office.”

Cornell du Houx recently ended a three-year stint at the Truman National Security Project in Washington, D.C., where he said he traveled the country to recruit and train future leaders, elected officials, their staff, nonprofits, and others involved in national security issues and climate change.

Cornell du Houx said he voluntarily left the Truman project.

“I left the Truman National Security Project to focus on my re-election efforts,” he said.

Cornell du Houx made his first public appearance in Brunswick after the controversy, when he attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday for the town’s new train station.

“I went to the Amtrak opening and it was very heartening when members of the community came to to voice their support,” he said. “I am extremely grateful for all the community support I have received.”

Herbig said that she, too, has been buoyed by public reaction.

“I want to thank my family, colleagues, constituents and people from all across the state for their support and encouragement in this very difficult process,” she said in a prepared statement following the agreement.

Cornell du Houx said he will be leaving on a trip to Australia to lead a delegation of veterans to foster international relations later this month, but that it is not a result of the agreement.

“That’s been in the works for about nine months,” he said. “I’ve done previous trips to Malaysia and Indonesia in a similar manner.”

Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 123 or matthh@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @hh_matt.

Cornell du Houx’s statement:

“I’m feel very satisfied with the agreement reached and that the temporary order was withdrawn.

“Community service, military service and public service are the guiding principles that I am dedicated to. I serve and protect the people of my community as a lawmaker. I serve and protect my country an officer in the Navy.I will continue to serve and protect the people of my community, and my country now and for many years to come. I’d like to thank family, friends, coworkers and my community for their loving support.”

Rep. Alex Cornell du Houx (D-Brunswick) sent the following statement regarding the agreement he signed along with Rep. Erin Herbig (D-Belfast). Herbig had sought a temporary restraining order on Cornell du Houx after the two ended their relationship.

“We are satisfied with the agreement reached. The temporary order will be withdrawn on Monday. I have the highest respect for Rep. Herbig.

“Last week I informed leadership that I will be taking an excused absence for the next few days. It is highly unlikely that there will be any tiebreaker votes and I wanted to calm the situation so everyone can focus on working for the people of Maine.

“I’ve dedicated myself to the people of Brunswick as a lawmaker and to my country as an officer in the Navy. I am looking forward to continuing to serve in the legislature and running for office.”

ON MONDAY MAY 14, 2012 THE TEMPORARY ORDER WAS WITHDRAWN

Rep. Erin Herbig had the Belfast Court place a temporary order on Rep. Cornell du Houx on April 30, 2012. On May 14, 2012 her lawyer withdrew the temporary order at the Belfast County Courthouse.

Normal procedures were not followed. Usually a formal complaint is filed with the police before a temporary protection order is sought.

The following is from an article by Steve Mistler of the Portland Press Herald:

Capitol Police Chief Russell Gauvin told The Portland Press Herald last week that Herbig never filed a formal complaint and she didn’t seek a protection order until last week.

Steve McCausland, a spokesman for the agency, today said police had concluded their investigation on Friday and that no charges against the 29-year-old Cornell du Houx were forthcoming. Cornell du Houx has not been interviewed by authorities.

Rep. Cornell du Houx stated on May, 14, 2012:

“Community service, military service and public service are the guiding principles that I am dedicated to. I serve and protect the people of my community as a lawmaker. I serve and protect my country as an officer in the Navy.

“Many reports listed me as still being in the Marines. For the record I was commissioned into the Navy Reserves in December 2011. I serve as a public affairs officer stationed out of Bangor Maine. We conduct operational support for US Central Command (Middle East operations). I have served and continue to serve our country in the military since 2002 and the people of Brunswick in the legislature simultaneously since 2008.

“I will continue to serve and protect the people of my community, and my country now and for many years to come.

“I’d like to thank family, friends, coworkers and my community for their loving support. Yesterday I was at the ribbon cutting for the Amtrack coming to Brunswick and was heartened by the community support.”

Normal procedures were not followed. Usually a formal complaint is filed with the police before a temporary protection order is sought.

The following is from an article by Steve Mistler of the Portland Press Herald on May 11, 2012:

“Capitol Police Chief Russell Gauvin told The Portland Press Herald last week that Herbig never filed a formal complaint and she didn’t seek a protection order until last week.

“Steve McCausland, a spokesman for the agency, today said police had concluded their investigation on Friday and that no charges against the 29-year-old Cornell du Houx were forthcoming.

“Cornell du Houx has not been interviewed by authorities.”

Many reports listed Rep. Cornell du Houx as still being in the Marines. For the record he was commissioned into the Navy Reserves in December 2011. He serves as a public affairs officer stationed out of Bangor Maine. He conducts operational support for US Central Command (Middle East operations).

“I have served and continue to serve our country in the military since 2002 and the people of Brunswick in the legislature simultaneously since 2008,” said Cornell du Houx.

AUGUSTA — Belfast Democrat state Rep. Erin Herbig on Monday withdrew her protection order against her former boyfriend Rep. Alex Cornell du Houx, D-Brunswick

Herbig last week secured a temporary protection order against Rep. Alex Cornell du Houx. The two lawmakers entered a relationship in 2011 and ended it earlier this year, setting off an ugly separation that Herbig claims spilled onto State House grounds and eventually prompted involvement by legislative leadership and law enforcement.

Maine State Police had been investigating some of Herbig’s allegations after she consulted with Capitol Police in early April. Capitol Police Chief Russell Gauvin told The Portland Press Herald last week that Herbig never filed a formal complaint and she didn’t seek a protection order until last week.

Steve McCausland, a spokesman for the agency, today said police had concluded their investigation on Friday and that no charges against the 29-year-old Cornell du Houx were forthcoming. McCausland, who has declined to say which allegations police were investigating, said he did not know why the decision was made to end the inquiry.

Cornell du Houx has not been interviewed by authorities.

A message left at the Office of the Kennebec County District Attorney was not immediately returned.

Gauvin said Monday that the district attorney had been brought in to review the case and consider criminal charges. Gauvin said he did not know why the attorney decided not to pursue formal charges, but he said, prosecutors had significant latitude in making such a decision, including insufficient evidence.

In an 8-page handwritten court filing, Herbig made a series of specific accusations against Cornell du Houx, including that he entered her apartment without permission, acted in a threatening manner and followed her while she was driving.

Cornell du Houx has said that Herbig’s court statement contained many falsehoods.

Lawyers for the two legislators late Friday reached a confidential settlement after the personal entanglement received significant media attention. Both sides said Saturday that they were happy with the deal.

Cornell du Houx released a short statement today saying he was glad that the protection order was withdrawn. He has said that he plans to complete his term, but he has sought a temporary excused absence from this week’s legislative session.

Cornell du Houx, citing the media attention the situation has attracted, said his absence was designed to “calm the situation.”

A spokesman for House Speaker Rep. Robert Nutting, R-Oakland, said the clerk’s office was reviewing the process to excuse Cornell du Houx’s absence.

Herbig had secured a temporary protection from abuse order from a Belfast District Court judge alleging that Cornell du Houx had taken photos of her while she slept and had acted in a threatening manner.

According to court documents in Herbig’s request for a protection order the situation between the couple grew more uncomfortable in late March, early April. it was then that Herbig consulted with Capitol Police.

Herbig was expected to release a statement on Monday about her decision to withdraw the protection order.

Cornell du Houx would not comment on whether he would abandon his re-election bid; however, he has previously said that he was committed to staying in the race. Herbig said through her attorney, Chris MacLean, that she was continuing her reelection bid.

If either changes their mind and ends their campaign they may wait until after the June primary to do so. A spokeswoman for the Secretary of State recently told The Press Herald that it’s too late to remove the candidates’ names from the primary ballot.

Additionally, withdrawing before the primary could leave Democrats without a candidate in November, according to state election law. If either candidate waits until after the primary to withdraw, their respective town committees would have a short period of time to draft a new candidate.

Click here for full article

The U.S., because of its colonial past, was not originally in the same camp as Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, et. al. It took almost a full century before the U.S.A joined the rapacious pack, picking up a few stray dependencies like the Philippines, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa and Puerto Rico, while keeping a wary eye and military invasion plans on most of Latin America.

A lynchpin of the growing industrialization in the U.S. was the development of railroads that began just prior to the Civil War. Much has been made of the transportation explosion that helped link our scattered settlements on the North American continent. The men who built the railroads were hailed as heroes of progress (although later some of them slipped into the less glamorous category of robber barons). But to listen to certain gurus of American free enterprise, you would think these bravos did it all on their own without any help from (gulp) our U.S. government.

I had evidence of such an attitude provided at a meeting of a group I once belonged to called the Presidents Circle of the National Academy of Sciences. Also a member was Bill Koch, one of the now notorious Koch brothers, two of whom are pouring millions into present-day political campaigns. Bill is not one of these political heavies – he seems to prefer collecting art and sailing (he won the Americas Cup for the U.S. in the past). But his ideology aligns with his brothers, the Koch boys seemingly having had dinned into them the philosophy of their father, a founder of the arch-right wing John Berch Society. In the course of a discussion at the Presidents Circle, Bill Koch made an impassioned plea for returning to “the good old days,” when free enterprise had encountered no restraints nor government assistance and he especially lauded those railroad pioneers for their initiative and daring.

However, Bill never mentioned the most salient fact about railroad building in our country – that it all depended on the immense land grants received from the Federal government in Washington, D.C. These gifts were turned into cash as collateral for bonds sold to create the capital necessary for the vast enterprises cropping up all over the country. When I reminded Bill Koch of such Federal help, without which the railroads could not have been built, he sheepishly admitted he had to agree with me and had forgotten that aspect of American Capitalism.

An illustration of the amplitude of these land donations can be observed through the microcosm of a single particular project – the creation of the Illinois Central Railroad Company. The donated lands backing up this one example alone (and hardly the biggest of them) amounted to 3,840 acres for each mile built or an aggregate of 2,572, 800 acres. The value placed on the Illinois line’s real estate in toto was more than $21,400,000

From railroads to oil to steel, the expansion of American industry in the the mid to late 19th century was extraordinary. Given birth ideologically was not only a boastful and brash Capitalist society but what came to be known as “Social Darwinianism,” the rule of Survival of the Fittest and the moral superiority of winners, no matter how reprehensible their behavior. Capitalism’s harshness in the use of its workers led to the formation of Unions and almost continual labor strife. So extreme were some of the abuses that in 1887, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act, “the federal governments’ first attempt to interfere with the conduct of business.” The activity of the railroads in playing favorites in rate cases was specifically cited as causing the impulse for Uncle Sam to level the playing field.

Nevertheless, the industrializing trend maintained itself and – heading into and out of World War I – seemed invincible, producing such powerful political slogans as “The business of America is business.”

The 1920’s saw the climax of prosperity, but following a pattern seen in the U.S. economy since before the Civil War was beset by yo-yo periods of recession and then recovery. The habit of speculation became rooted and the first major Depression arrived in 1929. The walls of wealth came tumbling down and, before long, one third of Americans were out of work once the economy collapsed.

We all know that Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office on a pledge to combat the Depression and its effects. He saw clearly the need for, as he put it, “a re-appraisal of values.” Stating that “a mere builder of more industrial plants, a creator of more railroad systems, an organizer of more corporations, is as likely to be a danger as a help,” FDR went on to declare that “The day of the great promoter of the financial Titan, to whom we granted anything if only he would build or develop is over.” He insisted that “equality of opportunity, as we have known it, no longer exists” and that “the task of Government in its relation to business is to assist the development of an economic declaration of rights, an economic constitutional order…”
Such rhetoric won Roosevelt the job of Chief Executive and from 1932 until his death in 1945, he labored with eventual success in forming the U.S. into the greatest and fairest economic giant in the world.

Roosevelt’s “reform Capitalism” did save the Capitalist system and give it a new lease on life. Other countries, like Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, reacted with totalitarian dictatorships. But the reprieve offered by the New Deal would last only a few decades until attacked by Darwinian forces working to restore a golden age of laissez-faire, which never ever really did exist or whose dependence on governmental subsidies was conveniently forgotten, the way Bill Koch had done.

To preach that Adam Smith’s invisible hand – i.e., the market – if left alone will correct every flaw defies common sense and past performance. It is a step down the road to economic hell. But people do forget, as we have seen. Raw Capitalism’s rapacious imperative that in selfishness lies salvation once more is experiencing a revival here in the second decade of the 21st century. Whether we can survive another onslaught of needless economic recklessness and its resulting financial inequality remains to be seen.

For more of Neil’s blogs click here

Go to: http://www.wgme.com/news/top-stories/stories/wgme_vid_11817.shtml

UPDATE:
This story appeared two days later on Dirgo Blue:

Rep. Alex Cornell du Houx (D-Brunswick) sent the following statement regarding the agreement he signed along with Rep. Erin Herbig (D-Belfast). Herbig had sought a temporary restraining order on Cornell du Houx after the two ended their relationship.

“We are satisfied with the agreement reached. The temporary order will be withdrawn on Monday. I have the highest respect for Rep. Herbig.

“Last week I informed leadership that I will be taking an excused absence for the next few days. It is highly unlikely that there will be any tiebreaker votes and I wanted to calm the situation so everyone can focus on working for the people of Maine.

“I’ve dedicated myself to the people of Brunswick as a lawmaker and to my country as an officer in the Navy. I am looking forward to continuing to serve in the legislature and running for office.”

The Legislature is set to reconvene on Tuesday. Cornell du Houx told the PPH that he would request an excused absence for the session this week.

This story appeared on Dirgo Blue

NOTE: An excused absence is a normal procedure lawmakers take for personal reasons. It is only for a few days and is very different from a leave of absence, which could lead to a resignation.