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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The St. Joseph County Democrat Party held a press conference yesterday to take credit for a Republican bill that gives property tax cuts to people who are 55-years-old and older. Instead of reading the bill and checking agendas to see that it was authored by Republican Councilwoman Amy Drake and co-sponsored by Republican Councilman Dan Schaetzel, WSBT and WNDU allowed the Democrats to take credit for the initiative without disclosing that it was a Republican effort.
“For the last few months, I’ve worked on promoting the Republican senior tax cut the County Council passed in November.” Councilwoman Drake wrote in a statement. “And yesterday, as I literally made final edits on a press release to advertise a sign-up for the new program, I discovered that Democrats had covertly organized a press conference in the County City Building to promote our tax cut.”
The cuts were initially passed in November of 2023. According to copies of the agenda, Republicans Amy Drake and Dan Schaetzle were the only two councilmembers on the bill.
Drake has sent nearly half a dozen press releases to the media since its passage with little coverage from local legacy media outlets (aside from WVPE). However, WNDU and WSBT both attended the Democrat press conference on Tuesday — who, according to sources, initially opposed the bill as it stands.
WNDU made sure to only quote Democrat Councilmember Mark Catanzarite, who is the father of former WNDU reporter Maria Catanzarite. WSBT quoted Democrats Catanzarite and Rafael Morton who is a long time WSBT employee. Neither outlet mentions the potential conflicts of interests in their reports. It’s important to note, Morton and Catanzarite are also both running for office this year — with the former launching a bid for a County Commissioner seat and Catanzarite running for re-election to the Council.
“The Democrats are running on Republican initiatives because they have no accomplishments of their own.” Drake told RNM.
The Republican tax cuts cap property tax increases by 2-percent for people who are 55-years-old and older who have a homestead exemption and have lived in their home for at least 10 years. You can sign up to receive the benefit here.
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