BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- The Louisiana Republican Party may sanction more than two dozen prominent Republicans endorsing incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu over challenger John Kennedy in the upcoming election.
State GOP Chairman Roger Villere says several party members want to adopt some formal mechanism to censure GOP officials who break with the party's candidate in a race.
But Villere says any censure resolution or bylaws change will have to wait until after this year's elections. Several prominent Republicans, including eight parishwide elected officials from are supporting Landrieu over Kennedy. Villere says Republican Party central committee members previously have adopted censure resolutions of GOP officials who backed Democrats, but they have lacked muscle. He did not say what sanctions may be considered, but party leaders "don't want this to develop into a trend."