GINA B. GOOD / PVT From left, Butch Clendenen, chairman of Recalls R Us, and Larry Sanford, the group treasurer, watch as Robin Lloyd signs a recall petition in front of the Bob Ruud Community Center earlier this summer. Cindy Sanford is seated at right. RELATED STORY Recall petitions will be under scrutiny Advertisement

Butch Clendenen, chairman of Recalls R Us, said his group turned in more than enough valid signatures, 798, to call for a special election to recall Nye County Commissioner Butch Borasky.

The petitions were delivered to the Nye County Clerk's office at the end of the 90-day petition deadline yesterday afternoon.

Recall organizers need valid signatures from one-fourth of the registered voters in District 4, or 652 signatures.

Clendenen said the attempt to recall Pahrump town board members Nicole Shupp and Bill Dolan was less successful, as people that were supposed to help in that effort didn't.

He said volunteers went door to door soliciting signatures and manned a tent in front of McDonald's Restaurant and the Bob Ruud Community Center. Recalls R Us checked voter registration lists to verify people signing the petition lived in District 4, he said.

If there is a question over a signature, Clendenen said they have the option to go back to the person who signed the petition and get a sworn statement.

When asked why Recalls R Us doesn't just wait until Borasky is up for election next year, Clendenen said, "Unfortunately, a year can be a lot more damage. This is the issue right now that the group has discussed and everybody felt a year was too long."

There was talk about starting recalls of Commissioners Joni Eastley and Gary Hollis once they were six months into their current term, which fell in July. Clendenen said it was discussed but the group didn't have time to initiate those recalls and they were more adamant about getting Borasky out of office.

"His signatures are on every bit of paperwork behind that prison and on changing the regulations on the nine and a half miles," Clendenen said.

Clendenen bought his retirement home in northeastern Pahrump, then was outraged to find out the federal detention center would be built nearby. He referred to a county commission vote in 2007 to eliminate a 50,000 foot, or 9.5-mile separation between correctional facilities and residents in the county code.

Clendenen said a recall was started against Shupp for telling people to sit down and shut up during public comment at town board meetings. His gripe against Dolan revolves around his appointment by Gov. Jim Gibbons, which was a surprise even to other town board members.

Petition organizers named Donna Cox as a candidate for Borasky's county commission seat if a recall election is called. Cox is the chairman of Concerned Citizens for a Safe Community, a group primarily opposed to the detention center project, but which also has organized to fight a gun ordinance by the Pahrump Town Board and a proposed Valley Electric Association rate increase that was later discarded.

"I don't see the people being informed correctly. Now is the information out there if you look for it? Yes. But the people shouldn't have to look. The information should be out there in the daylight for them to make educated decisions, and in Nye County that information is not out there," Clendenen said.

Borasky said he has supporters who will analyze the signatures on the recall petitions.

"They worked real hard at it, I'll give them credit for that. I had no less than 150 calls from people who said they were at their houses and they turned them down," Borasky said. "This is probably the best put together recall I've ever seen."

Borasky said he will campaign hard if a recall election were held. He said there are hard decisions that will be necessary in the next year that can't involve weak-kneed politicians.

"They have a right under Nevada Revised Statutes to recall any official they're not happy with," Borasky said.

The first-term commissioner said his phone number and e-mails have always been available to his consitutents.

"I've been open to all the people who are against the detention center to begin with. I spent hours and hours with them. I did my own research and I'll stand by that," Borasky said.

Borasky said he would have preferred at least a 400- to 500-foot minimum distance between the detention center and homes.

Clendenen questioned what Borasky has done for the community. Borasky said he is a liaison to the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board which acquired $1.4 million for job programs at the former Nevada JobConnect, now called Career Connections.

"I worked with Valley Electric on the solar hot water program since its inception," Borasky said.

Borasky said he's also worked to ensure better relations between the town of Pahrump and Nye County. As a county commission liaison to the Pahrump Regional Planning Commission, Borasky said the RPC passed text amendments to allow a car wash and a bank in certain zones. Borasky said he worked with the planning department to make it more user-friendly.

Borasky said a special election would cost $30,000. Clendenen said he would be glad to debate Borasky about how the commission spends its money, like expenditures on the Calvada Eye building which has since been torn down.

"If it's successful, it was the will of the people," Clendenen said of the recall attempt.

"It's part of being an elected official, and if you don't have thick skin you shouldn't be in there," Borasky said.