This was a bad decision, dumb at best. Steve Austria could have been a star within the caucus and they just threw him under the bus. The GOP really is the stupid party, as if their pushing of Romney on the rank-and-file weren’t proof enough.
Yes, the same thing has been done to Rep. Jeff Landry, R-New Iberia, LA.
I disagree. Turner is in my district, but I know Austria (had his son in class). The simple fact is that Turner’s recent voting record on the issues has been more consistently conservative than Austria’s. Moreover, Turner-—due to his time as Dayton mayor-—still draws well from the Dayton area whereas Austria doesn’t. So on both the ideological and pragmatic grounds, this was the right move.