The Lake County Board of Elections on Tuesday dismissed a political sign violation complaint filed against St. John Police Chief Steven Flores.
The board made a unanimous decision after hearing from Crown Point resident Ronald Segert, who filed the complaint, as well as from Flores and his lawyer, Jim Wieser.
Segert, in his argument, said he filed his complaint initially in August after seeing an election-related billboard near the Lake County Fairgrounds for 10 days during the fair last summer.
The billboard, which Segert said had no disclaimer and was illegally posted more than 30 days before the election, read: “Flores For Sheriff.”
Segert said his complaint, later amended and resent to the county in September, included a Facebook photo of the Flores For Sheriff billboard sign, again without a disclaimer.
“This sign is a violation of Lake County Code Ordinance and IC-3-9-3-2.5,” Segert said in his complaint.
Segert, in his complaint, said he felt Flores must have endorsed it because he wrote: “In case you are near the fair for the last night, you may see this sign. We love it!”
Flores has indicated he is one of several candidates running for the position of Lake County Sheriff, which will be decided in the 2026 election.
Flores, when under questioning by Wieser, said the official name of his committee is “Committee to elect Steven Flores” and not “Flores For Sheriff,” as was written on the billboard and on the Facebook photo.
When asked, Flores said he had not approved nor did he have any ownership or involvement with the billboard that had been located near the Lake County Fairgrounds.
That billboard has since been taken down, board officials said.
Flores, when questioned by board chairman Kevin Smith, did acknowledge he had written the comment on his Facebook page.
“Yes, I’m not denying that at all,” Flores answered.
In other business, the board continued to its Dec. 9 meeting a complaint filed by Stephen Aichner of Hobart, against five individuals for failure to have correct election credentials.
Aichner, in his complaint filed on May 8, said he had entered the Early Learning Center in Hobart on May 5, where Hobart precincts 12 and 19 were located and where the referendum election was held.
Aichner serves as deputy election commissioner.
Those named in Aichner’s complaint included Sandra Garza, Lauren Ross, Theresa Kolczak, John Brezik and Christopher Kosovich.
Wieser, a lawyer for the defendants, said their understanding was that they didn’t need to have credentials issued since it was a referendum and not a partisan election.
“They acknowledged what they did was wrong,” Wieser said.
Brezik, who was in the polling place but had credentials, was dismissed from the complaint, Wieser said.
Nathan Vis, an attorney representing Aichner, said: “Mr. Brezik was dismissed, but an additional charge was to be brought up today.”
“It would be appropriate if Mr. Brezik was here,” Vis added.
Vis, when asked by Smith if he wanted to continue the case until the next meeting, said yes, so all parties could be in attendance.
Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
