Candidate tossed for using stage name

CANTON, Ga., May 6 (UPI) -- A Georgia man who wrestled as Rick Steiner two decades ago has used the name ever since, but the now name is complicating his plans to run for public office.

Robert Rechsteiner told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he still plans to run for a seat on the Cherokee County School Board, even though he's been told he cannot qualify for the ballot in the Republican primary using his professional name. He'll have to run as a write-in candidate or as an independent in the November general election, Rechsteiner said.

He was appointed to the school board last year to fill an unexpired term. He decided to seek the seat by election, and was the only qualified candidate, he said -- until he turned out not to be qualified.

He and his brother wrestled as the Steiner Brothers in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Rechsteiner said everyone knows him as Rick Steiner and it never occurred to him that, because he had never changed his name legally, it would invalidate his candidacy.

"I used it as a springboard to help people recognize who I was," he said.