Robinson alleges Letlow tried to “buy him out” of 5th Congressional District race

Luke Letlow (left) and Scotty Robinson (right), two candidates for the 5th Congressional District. (Courtesy for Letlow: Luke Letlow for Congress Facebook. Courtesy for Robinson: Ouachita Parish Police Jury website.)

by: Jonathan Freeman

Posted: Sep 17, 2020 / 04:15 PM AST

Updated: Sep 17, 2020 / 03:31 PM AST

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WEST MONROE, La. (KTVE/KARD) — Scotty Robinson, a candidate in the race for the 5th Congressional District seat, is alleging that Luke Letlow tried to buy him out of the race.

According to a video posted on the Scotty Robinson for Congress Facebook page, Robinson alleges that he has been made offers on multiple occasions to back out of the race in exchange for money or for a job.

“I am not for sale. I cannot be bought. This seat cannot be bought. This district cannot be bought,” said Robinson.

He goes on to say that during the 2019 Gubernatorial Race for Louisiana, a mutual friend of his and Letlow’s made him an offer, allegedly on the behalf of Letlow, to not run for congress and in return Ralph Abraham would have a job waiting on Robinson when Abraham got elected for governor.

Robinson says in the video he was made another offer from one of Letlow’s supporters. Robinson stated that the supporter wanted to know how much money it would take for Robinson to drop out of the race.

Robinson also says that on September 6, 2020, one of his own supporters told him that someone from Letlow’s campaign had urged them to talk with Robinson and get him to drop out.

“That disgusts me. Listen, I get politics. I’ve been elected. I’ve been a public servant since 2011. But this kind of insider, DC swamp stuff is the reason I’m running in the first place,” said Robinson.

Robinson ends the video saying, “To the people trying to buy me out of this race, no thank you. It’s insulting to me, and it’s insulting to the voters and residents of this district.”

Luke Letlow’s campaign has responded to the allegations by calling the accusation “baseless and desperate.”

As reported by The News-Star, the chairman for Letlow’s campaign, Scott Franklin, made the following statement regarding the allegations.

“Our campaign holds ourselves to the highest standard and would never condone the details of (Robinson’s) statement,” said Scott Franklin, chairman of Letlow’s campaign. “However, I do feel sorry for Mr. Robinson, as he has sunk a great deal of personal money into what appears to be a wildly unsuccessful bid for Congress. As the proud chairman of the Letlow campaign, I’ll never apologize for running what has been the most successful fundraising campaign in district history.”