SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A court hearing Tuesday over Dan Schaetzle’s place on the Republican primary ballot focused on a threshold question: whether Griffin Nate, the plaintiff trying to remove Schaetzle from the ballot, was the proper person to file the lawsuit.
Testimony revealed that Jamie O’Brien, a candidate challenging incumbent Schaetzle for the County Council District C seat, went to the St. Joseph County Elections & Voter Registration Office and physically filed the original election board challenge on Nate’s behalf.
By the end of the hearing in St. Joseph Circuit Court, Nate’s attorney, Sean Surrisi of Wyland, Humphrey, Clevenger & Surrisi, LLP, told Judge John Broden, “I’m having fun suing the government here.”
Michael Smyth, attorney for the St. Joseph County Election Board, argued that Nate was not the proper party to bring the appeal and that the lawsuit should have been filed by the Republican Party or by the person who physically filed the original challenge.
“Mr. Nate is not the right vehicle for this claim,” Smyth told the court.
Smyth also argued that the legal theory driving the case treated the Indiana Republican Party as if it were the actual client rather than Nate, the named plaintiff.
Pete Agostino, who represents Schaetzle, attacked the plaintiff’s argument more sharply.
After listening to nearly 45 minutes of argument from Surrisi, Agostino dismissed it as a “lengthy version of double speak.”
Agostino also pressed the broader consequence of what the plaintiff is asking the court to do.
He also raised the question of who pays for primary elections, arguing that Republican primaries in Indiana are not private party conventions or caucuses but publicly administered elections funded by taxpayers.
The underlying lawsuit was filed by Nate after the St. Joseph County Election Board voted 3-0 on Feb. 25th to reject his challenge and keep Schaetzle on the Republican primary ballot in the race for County Council District C.
Nate’s case is built on two main arguments.
The first is that the Indiana Republican Party had already declared Schaetzle “not a Republican in Good-Standing” for a two-year period, and that party determination should prevent him from appearing on the Republican primary ballot.
In his trial brief, Nate argues that the party’s right to define its own membership and nominees under the First Amendment overrides any claim by Schaetzle that he can remain on the ballot simply because he satisfied Indiana’s statutory affiliation test.
Defense attorneys countered that the election board’s role is not to enforce internal party discipline but to apply state election law as written.
Under Indiana Code § 3-8-2-7, a candidate is considered to be affiliated with a political party only if any of the following applies:“the two (2) most recent primary elections in Indiana in which the candidate voted were primary elections held by the party with which the candidate claims affiliation”, or if the candidate obtains certification from the county party chairman. Smyth argued the statute’s use of the word “only” means those are the exclusive methods for determining party affiliation for ballot access.
Through that lens, Smyth argued that the SJC Election Board had no duty to cross-reference any internal Republican Party decision about whether Schaetzle, or any other candidate, was in “good-standing” or “not in good-standing”.
The statute, defense attorneys argued, governs ballot access through objective election-law criteria, not party disciplinary findings.
The second argument is procedural. Nate’s filings contend that Schaetzle’s declaration of candidacy was improperly amended after notarization and that the amended filing should have been rejected.
Tuesday’s hearing also included arguments over the nature of the record before the court, including whether certain materials submitted during the election board proceedings should be treated as formal exhibits or simply as part of the administrative record.
The lawsuit asks the court to reverse the election board’s decision and remove Schaetzle from the Republican primary ballot.
Judge Broden did not issue a ruling from the bench, a ruling is anticipated in the coming days.
Logan Foster
Logan Foster founded Redress South Bend and reports on local government and public records in South Bend and St. Joseph County. He is 31 years old and is majoring in finance. He is a Cleveland sports fan and a longtime season ticket holder of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
