Alex Cornell du Houx

Democratic state House candidate Alex Cornell du Houx said that his appearance in a new third party ad against U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Bangor) won't conflict with the Maine Clean Elections Act.

If his appearance in the ad is deemed legal, it could open up a loophole for third party groups to interfere with Clean Elections candidates, said Dan Billings, a Waterville attorney and an expert in Maine's campaign finance laws.

The ad, paid for by VoteVets.org, criticizes Collins for supporting the Iraq War. Cornell du Houx, of Brunswick, appeared in his capacity as an Iraq War veteran, and did not mention his candidacy for the Legislature.

Senate candidates Susan Collins (R-Bangor) and Tom Allen (D-Portland) both denounced an ad that hit Collins on her support of the Iraq War.

The ad is from the third party veterans’ organization VoteVets.org that opposes the Iraq War.

In the ad, Alex Cornell du Houx, an Iraq War veteran, said $2 billion of Maine’s tax dollars went to the war while Iraq got rich off oil profits.

The Maine College Democrats were in town this week for the national convention for College Democrats, which coincided with the Democratic National Convention.

See below for video of the current College Democrats chairman Christopher Van Alstyne and state House candidate Alex Cornell du Houx, who is a former national chairman and also an Iraq War veteran.