SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The Republican nominee for St. Joseph County Council District I, Anthony “Andy” Rutten, filed a challenge to the candidacy of a conservative who is running for a seat on the Penn Harris Madison School Board in an attempt to get him thrown off the ballot this fall. The reason: The candidate used the nickname of “MAGA” on his campaign filings.
Benjamin “MAGA” Dallas filed his candidacy paperwork for the Penn Harris Madison School Board last month. School Board races in Indiana are all non-partisan. The “MAGA” designation is both Dallas’ actual nickname and a work-around to show his political affiliation on the ballot.
Indiana statute allows for candidates to put nicknames on the ballot as long as they are “commonly known” by that name. Rutten’s challenge claims Dallas is not actually known by the name “MAGA.”
Rutten has refused to provide comment to REAL News Michiana on his challenge, however, he is currently supporting Dallas’ opponent, Doug Chaffee, who has been mired in controversy for stalking and harassing young women. Dallas is a retired Army veteran who did combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
The St. Joseph County Election Board has scheduled a hearing on the matter for July 18th, at 11:00am. However, Dallas addressed the issue head-on during public comment at the Election Board’s regular meeting on Tuesday morning. Video of his comments and a transcription can be seen below.
What is a nickname? According to Merriam-Webster, a nickname is, “a usually descriptive name given instead of, or in addition to, the one belonging to a person, place, or thing”. Make America Great Again (MAGA), was the descriptive name given to me, earlier this year, prior to me filing my candidacy paperwork to run for school board. Why is MAGA my nickname? MAGA is my nickname, 100% due to political strategy and name recognition purposes for the November ballot… Indiana Code 3-8-1-2 states; “a candidate may use a nickname on the ballot, only if the nickname is a name by which the candidate is commonly known and doesn’t exceed 20 characters.” I have exceeded that standard.
After being involved in previous school board campaigns, and witnessing the lackluster voter turnout. I soon realized that the only way to win a non-partisan race such as this; is by utilizing a name recognition strategy. Nothing describes my political philosophy more than MAGA… Earlier this year, (months before filing my candidate paperwork), I discussed with my work collogues the idea of using “Republican” as a nickname on the ballot. One of my collogues then laughed, and told me to “go all out, and just use MAGA”! After that, the name just stuck on me.
Some will suggest that political strategy/name recognition isn’t an acceptable reason to list a different name; or a nickname on the ballot? I disagree…. But don’t take my word for it, just ask Anthony Rutten, one of my challengers. Many of you may have noticed that he uses “Andy Rutten” on the ballot, instead of his given first name of Anthony. However, he does this for a different reason than myself… He uses a different name so that voters can’t look up all of his years of having a criminal rap sheet, littered with personal and financial difficulties & poor judgement. Instead, I do this for transparency… I want voters to know the values of who they’re voting for, not hide my values, as my opponent is doing. Now, if that’s not enough of a reason, then look no further than Nikki Haley’s recent primary candidacy. She uses “Nikki”, as her first name on the ballot, instead of her given first name of “Nimarata”. Also, (according to yahoo news) she told the Charlotte Observer that she changed her name (on the ballot) to Nikki Haley because her real name doesn’t look good on a yard sign. Last I checked, the State GOP was okay with her using that name in the 2024 presidential primary race.
Finally, if my other challenger (laura Rydzinski) really cared so much about nicknames on the ballot, then perhaps she would be challenging Anthony Rutten’s candidacy instead of supporting him. The hypocrisy in this situation is laughable.
ANTHONY RUTTEN IS A HYPOCRITE
It turns out, Rutten also changed his name on the ballot, however, he did so to hide years worth of legal troubles. Council Candidate “Andy” Rutten’s legal name is actually ANTHONY J. Rutten. Nowhere in his name would anyone logically conclude a nickname of “Andy.” Further, on the ballot he does not include his legal name or nickname designation, showing only “Andy Rutten.” Typically someone who uses a nickname puts their legal name first with a nickname in parentheses in the second or third slot (unless they’re attempting to hide their identity).
While REAL News Michiana does standard cursory background checks on all candidates, RNM was not aware of Mr. Rutten’s legal name. Because of that, we searched for Andrew and Andy Rutten months ago, discovering only one legal action with that name involving the St. Joseph County Department of Health. A search of Rutten’s legal name shows nearly a dozen legal actions dating back two decades.
According to state records, Anthony Rutten has a long history of legal troubles involving finances, criminal behavior and overall poor judgement. Rutten has also been cited for nearly half a dozen traffic infractions, which could explain why the council candidate is typically seen riding a bicycle instead of driving a vehicle.
While Rutten’s latest legal battle was a 2022 trespassing arrest that was eventually dropped, RNM has learned since 2017, Rutten has been sued in small claims court FOUR times for not paying his bills. It’s important to note, the County Council is the financial and budgeting arm of the County’s government.
Rutten’s legal troubles involving finances could be connected to his inability to hold down a job. While Rutten has claimed to be a “developer,” RNM has not been able to find any projects that he has developed. And, according to his own financial statements in his campaign filings, he currently does not have a job. The only evidence showing Rutten was a developer is a company he created on paper called JME Construction LLC headquartered out of his home. That business was created in May of 2023. (PDF files of his campaign paperwork and JME Construction can be seen below.)
Rutten was recruited by sitting Republican County Council District B representative Amy Drake. Drake handpicked Rutten to run for the seat after she learned incumbent Mark Root was not going to run for re-election. With Drake’s help, Rutten defeated Kent Hizer in the Republican Primary this past May.
RNM reached out to Rutten for comment. We left him a voicemail and sent him a text on Sunday morning. He did not respond. A screenshot of the text message can be seen below.
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