McDonald off one hook as recall petition falls short

Erin Neff

Monday, Dec. 18, 2000 | 10:06 a.m.

Las Vegas Councilman Michael McDonald cleared the first of three hurdles to his continued political career Friday when a recall petition came up short.

A raw count of the petition's signatures, conducted by the Clark County registrar of voters office, concluded volunteers leading the recall drive came up 348 signatures short of the required 2,995. Even before Registrar Larry Lomax announced the raw count totals, petition organizers were bracing for defeat.

Committee chairman Russ Driver issued a press release, e-mailed to dozens by former Councilman Steve Miller, proclaiming 490 signatures didn't make it to the city clerk's office by the deadline due to a volunteer's car trouble.

And Miller himself seemed convinced the effort was short when he discussed myriad problems volunteers faced to get signatures from 25 percent of the number of people who voted in McDonald's 1999 landslide election win.

A new committee leader, David Smallwood, stepped to the forefront last week vowing to launch a second petition drive if the first effort failed. Smallwood, who lost his state real estate license for failing to pay nearly $20,000 in child support, said Miller complicated the recall effort and would not be included as a leader of a second effort.

"I'm just very, very humbled and honored by the people who stood by us," McDonald said. "The support is humbling."

McDonald said he was shocked when Smallwood began appearing on television news shows touting the recall effort.

"I had no clue who this guy was," McDonald said.

Smallwood compared McDonald to serial killers John Wayne Gacy and Ted Bundy when he was interviewed last Tuesday while turning in the petitions.

"My mother was so upset when she heard that," McDonald said. "That's just so wrong and offensive."

McDonald said he would continue to work for his Ward 1 constituents and said he thought that work speaks more loudly to residents than the recall effort proponents.

But McDonald faces more than a second recall effort. On Thursday the Las Vegas Ethics Review Board will determine whether special counsel Frank Cremen should proceed with a criminal case against McDonald in Municipal Court.

The ethics board in November found McDonald guilty of two city ethics code violations. The board ruled McDonald broke city codes when he attempted to broker the sale of Las Vegas Sportspark to the city and again when he tried to scuttle a tavern license.

In addition to the city ethics board decision this week, McDonald also faces a complaint before the state Ethics Commission in February. The state commission has the authority to initiate impeachment proceedings against McDonald.

Miller said last week he thought a second recall effort would be successful because citizens learned from their past mistakes.

During the recall effort, proponents mailed a flier to residents in Henderson -- not only outside McDonald's ward, but outside the city. Recall volunteers also reportedly collected signatures outside shopping centers from about 1,000 non-Ward 1 residents.