Brown recall petition turned in

NORTH LAS VEGAS -- The fate of City Councilwoman Paula Brown, who is the target of a recall effort, won't officially be known until Thursday afternoon, according to the Clark County Elections Department.

The organization which engineered the recall drive, "Citizens for Higher Ethics in Government," submitted its petitions to the elections office late Tuesday afternoon.

An unofficial count of signatures will be taken at the office before they are sent to Secretary of State Dean Heller, who will ensure that everyone who signed the petition is a registered voter and a North Las Vegas resident.

While signatures have yet to be officially counted, Glen Easter, a member of the citizens' group, said volunteers collected 2,760 signatures from people who want Brown ousted.

A special election will be held if 1,930 of the signatures are valid.

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

Drug charges were dropped against James Brown after he pleaded guilty to two counts of filing false tax returns. Paula Brown was never charged with a crime and her husband received a suspended sentence.

The council woman said Monday that she will fight to keep her seat if a special election is called.

Easter claims Brown knew what was happening at the couple's business, but simply chose to ignore it. He said hundreds of North Las Vegas citizens agree with him, which made it easy to collect the signatures.

"We had people who have lived here for 20 years and people who have lived here for three months collecting signatures," he said. "The people who signed crossed all lines -- we had Democrats, Republicans, blacks, whites, young, old, rich and poor.

"This was a very controversial issue."

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