Austin Goes To Washington
When his term expired, Austin went to Washington where he became Chief of Staff to Congressman Eugene Atkinson (D-Pa.). In an effort to realign Congress, the Reagan White House undertook an effort to encourage conservative Democrats to switch parties. In October 1981, with President Reagan at his side, Atkinson became the first conservative Democrat to switch to the Republican Party in a Rose Garden ceremony at The White House. Austin became a Republican at that time also.
Austin was said to have played a pivotal role in the Atkinson switch and there was some speculation that Austin's connections to The White House might propel him in a future run for Congress. The Pittsburgh Press wrote, "Somehow, all of the television network commentators, the syndicated political columnists and the Capitol Hill pundits who rushed to analyze, dissect and expatiate upon the Atkinson political drama neglected to point out the McKeesport connection. He is Robb Austin, the man many people here think was the eminence grise behind Atkinson's defection. Austin is now Atkinson's top administrative aide, but back along the banks of the Monongahela he will be remembered as a former state legislator who was young, attractive, ambitious – and who nonetheless served only one term."
The report continues, "When Atkinson and President Reagan held a joint news conference in the Rose Garden to celebrate the congressman's new-found Republicanism, the former legislator from McKeesport figured prominently in the background tableau. He looked on from the Portico of the Oval Office, flanked on either side by Reagan political advisors Ed Rollins and Paul Russo. Austin got to know them when he was negotiating the terms of Atkinson’s political defection. Austin met Ronald Reagan and three other famous Reagan confidantes: Michael Deaver, James Baker and Lyn Nofzinger. Reagan posed for a picture with Austin and Nofzinger gave him a cigar."
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