Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle attacked U.S. Sen. David Vitter’s alleged involvement in a prostitution scandal at the final Louisiana gubernatorial debate at LSU Wednesday night, three days before the primary election on Oct. 24.
Three of the four gubernatorial candidates — Angelle, Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne and state Rep. John Bel Edwards — largely reiterated their platforms at the debate, hosted by Tiger TV and moderated by mass communication sophomore Mitch Rabalais, with a panel of local media professionals asking questions.
Vitter was the only absent candidate, citing D.C. obligations, Rabalais said. The other candidates attacked his lack of attendance at past debates and press conferences. Vitter missed previous debates and garnered criticism for dodging media at the most recent debate at Louisiana Tech University on Oct. 15.
Angelle blasted Vitter over allegations made by a former prostitute that Vitter impregnated her and asked for an abortion. Jason Berry published the allegations on American Zombie, his investigative journalism blog based out of New Orleans.
Angelle said Vitter, who emphasizes his anti-abortion views in public appearances, needs to address the report and told the audience to visit the website.
“We have a stench that is getting ready to come over Louisiana if we elect David Vitter as governor,” Angelle said.
He called the scandal a shadow cast over Vitter and said it will follow Louisiana and hurt the state’s ability to create jobs and grow its economy.
“We can’t have a cavalier attitude about this,” he said. “I understand the ‘serious sin.’ It is now perhaps a lifestyle that we need to examine — a lifestyle that Louisiana cannot afford.”
Angelle was the only candidate to address the prostitution scandal.
Mass communication professor Martin Johnson said Angelle will gain attention in a debate where most of the candidates’ policy points were reiterated.
“There are elements of it that are well-worn and there are new elements — really new, salacious elements — that are hard to pin down,” Johnson said.
He said he would have liked to see Vitter engage the campus, but his absence is nothing new.
An Edwards-Vitter runoff is still the most likely scenario, Johnson said, but a large number of undecided voters might mean a different Republican could face Edwards following the primary election.
All three candidates advocated similar policies on budget reform, protection to higher education, abortion and the Second Amendment, among others.
Edwards said he would return Louisiana universities to a “50-50” funding ratio — 50 percent from the state, 50 percent from student tuition and fees. Now the state pays 24 percent of university costs, while students face 76 percent of the burden, according to a September LSU Board of Supervisors report.
“TOPS is going to be sustainable because as your governor, I’m going to stop the double digit annual tuition increases,” Edwards said.
Angelle and Dardenne also said they would protect TOPS and pointed to sharp tuition cost increases as a sustainability problem.
The Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance reported in August the program faces a nearly $20 million funding shortfall for the upcoming year.
The candidates also agreed on gun control, with each candidate respectively touting an “A” grade from the National Rifle Association.
Angelle said the issue “hits home for me pretty close,” as his 19-year-old daughter was at The Grand 16 movie theater in Lafayette the day a gunman shot and killed two people and injured nine others before committing suicide.
“By the grace of God we did not have that consequence for our family,” Angelle said.
The candidates all pointed to mental health, and not gun access, as the source of gun violence, including mass shootings.

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Ari Ross

Gubernatorial candidate Jay Dardenne responds to a student's question during the final gubernatorial debate on Oct. 21, 2015, in the Holiday Forum.