Polling company sues Robinson political candidate committee over unpaid bills

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A recent Elon Poll among registered voters shows Democrat Josh Stein has widened his lead in the North Carolina gubernatorial race. He's up 21 points vs. Republican Mark Robinson.

Robinson has been battling a political scandal and now his campaign faces more legal troubles.

Vox Insights, a Wyoming-based polling data company, is suing Mark Keith Robinson for NC a/k/a Friends of Mark Robinson for $114,000.

According to the claim, the pro-Robinson political candidate committee has failed to pay for services related to the election.

READ THE FULL COMPLAINT HERE (.pdf)

The lawsuit was filed Monday in Stanly County, where Friends of Mark Robinson (FOMR) is based.

It states that the campaign was sent an invoice on Sept. 18 and FOMR "has failed or otherwise refused to pay the invoice."

"This lawsuit is completely baseless. The campaign has resolved all invoices for all previous work from this company and does not owe them one penny," said a Robinson Campaign spokesperson. "The campaign has not seen any work product from this company on this so-called project, and the work they are alleging was agreed to by a consultant -- without Lt. Gov. Robinson's knowledge or consent -- that is no longer with the campaign and had no authority to authorize it. This matter is clearly being pushed by political grifters that are just trying to extort more money from the campaign, and we're confident that we'll be successful in court and these bad actors will be exposed."

The John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank, weighed in on the legal action.

"If you're going to file suit against a candidate a week before the election, you pretty much think he's done, he's not going to win, and you also aren't worried about potential fallout," said John Locke Foundation spokesperson Mitch Kokai.

This is the second high-profile lawsuit in the last month for Robinson and his campaign.

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He has filed a defamation lawsuit against CNN.

A CNN story claimed that Robinson, under a username he frequently used online, made several inflammatory comments on a message board of a pornography website more than a decade ago.

ABC News has not confirmed the reporting or the online username alleged to be linked to him.

Robinson has denied the article's claims.

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ABC11 spoke with North Carolina Republican Party Chair Jason Simmons earlier this week. Simmons was asked whether there was a concern with the CNN article and what it could do to the campaign numbers.

"I think, as we've continued to see, you have Mark Robinson getting out there and talking to the voters of North Carolina and making sure that they understand that these are not his words nor his values. And that will be up to the voters of North Carolina to decide," said Simmons.

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ABC11 reached out to both candidates for comment about the final stretch of the campaign.

Robinson's campaign spokesperson did not respond. Stein's campaign did.

"This election, North Carolinians are facing a stark choice in their candidates for governor. While Mark Robinson focuses on hateful rhetoric and fighting job-killing culture wars, Josh Stein is focused on a forward-looking vision for North Carolina with strong schools, safe communities, and meaningful job opportunities across the state," said Stein Campaign spokesperson Morgan Hopkins.