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ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. — In a bizarre move leading up to the 2024 election, the St. Joseph County Republican Party has decided to ignore nearly all of its county-wide candidates to instead use resources to promote a fundraiser for the legal fees of a prominent local Democrat.
For weeks, the St. Joseph County GOP has been taking to social media to share multiple stories from the website “Redress South Bend”, a blog which was started by a man named Logan Foster in an attempt to skirt a no-trespass order he received for harassing and stalking South Bend City staff. While the website has recently been critical of a few Democrats within the County, everything the GOP shares from Redress South Bend includes a massive pop-up banner of a fundraiser for the legal fees of former South Bend Common Council Member Henry Davis Jr. The fundraiser was started by Redress South Bend’s owner, Logan Foster.
Davis Jr. is currently being sued by Democrat Probate Judge Jason Chichowicz for defamation. Earlier this month Davis Jr. falsely called Chichowicz a thief during a news conference where he had joined the leadership of the SJCGOP, who, in another bizarre move, announced the Republican Party planned to pay for the funeral costs of an alleged gang member.
The Hoosier Conservative Voices PAC has also been spending the final weeks of the election cycle sharing the fundraiser. It’s important to note, Hoosier Conservative Voices was founded by current SJCGOP Chairwoman Jackie Horvath, who is also ultimately responsible for what the GOP also chooses to promote and spend GOP member and donor money on.
GOP Party Members have described increasing frustrations with the party’s lack of support for races such as County Treasurer, County Recorder and County Surveyor. Instead, the party has seemed to be solely focused on the Probate Judge race. However, the Republican candidate, Loris Zappia, has been caught up in several scandals including revelations about an incident in which he killed a man in 1983, a Domestic Violence incident in which he violently attacked a family member earlier this summer and apparent tax evasion.
GOP LOSES SUPPORT
The St. Joseph County GOP has been flailing under the new leadership of Chairwoman Jackie Horvath and Vice Chair Joe Layne. According to sources, member involvement has dropped by nearly a half.
The first major mistake by the new leadership was made in July when Layne and Horvath began pushing for party members to sign Non-Disclosure agreements.
“We have discussed potentially for those that would have sensitive information but nothing yet set in stone.” Horvath told RNM via text at the time.
Several sources have also detailed information regarding the leadership’s involvement in policing social media. Those sources tell RNM that anyone who is on a committee or in a leadership position would not be allowed to like or share certain social media posts that could be viewed as critical of other Republicans, specifically any story or post written by RNM. Punishment for violating the NDA or social media policy would be the ousting from committees and possible censuring, according to sources.
Since the NDA debacle, Horvath and Layne have continued their pattern of bad decision making. The party downplayed a Domestic Violence incident involving GOP Probate Judge Candidate Loris Zappia, announced that they were going to pay for the funeral of an alleged gang member, secretly pushed for solar farm development, helped remove a MAGA school board candidate from the ballot, supported Councilwoman Amy Drake in a push to essentially defund the St. Joseph County Police Department and MUCH MORE.
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The Uniparty goes local