Recall drive against Brown stalls

Wednesday, May 20, 1998 | 10:03 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A petition to force a recall election for North Las Vegas Councilwoman Paula Brown has fallen short, Secretary of State Dean Heller said Tuesday.

Heller said there were insufficient signatures of registered voters to require an election for Brown.

But the organization that engineered the drive, "Citizens for Higher Ethics in Government," can appeal to Heller to take another look at its petition. And if that fails, the group can go to court.

The organization collected 2,734 signatures -- only 1,930 were needed to force the election.

Heller said a random sampling of 500 names on the petition revealed only 313 are registered voters. He said 318 verified names were required.

The check of the petition revealed 96 signers were not registered voters; three were duplicate signatures; three signatures were illegible; 46 of the signers lived outside the election district; and 39 persons were rejected because their signatures did not compare with the master list.

"Based upon information received from the Clark County registrar of voters, the petition to recall North Las Vegas City Councilwoman Paula Brown fails due to an insufficient number of valid signatures that qualify under the law," Heller said.

It was the second recall petition that has failed in the last week from Clark County. Heller ruled last week there were not enough valid signatures on the petition to force a recall election for Clark County Chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates.

The Brown recall effort started after police raided a chemical business, Lab-Kem Supplies, owned by Brown's husband. Investigators said supplies were being used to manufacture methamphetamine at local labs.

James Brown was initially charges with drug counts, but they were dropped when he pleaded guilty to two counts of filing false tax returns. He received a suspended sentence.

Paula Brown, who was not charged, said Tuesday she is relieved the recall effort is at least temporarily over and is looking forward to sitting on the City Council without any distractions.

"It has been a very trying time for me and my family," she said. "We're thankful it is over. I just thank the community of North Las Vegas for supporting me."