LA HABRA : Candidate Gives Up Council Campaign

A City Council candidate has moved to La Mirada, forcing him to abandon his campaign and leaving the race for two at-large seats to two incumbents and one challenger.

Norman P. Eneim, a machine shop foreman, said he decided to end his bid because of a contractual commitment to buy a home in La Mirada.

“I wish I could have run,” he said Tuesday. “I’m a native La Habran, and I was a little brokenhearted to leave.”

Although Eneim has dropped out, his name will appear on the ballot because he missed the deadline for removing his name from the race, City Clerk Sharie Apodaca said.

If Eneim were to win the most votes, he would have to step down because he does not live in La Habra, she said.

Eneim’s move out of the city could make Douglas Bystry’s reelection bid more difficult, the councilman said.

Candidate David M. Cheverton, a businessman, and Mayor William D. Mahoney, who is also seeking reelection, say they are not running as a team, but their views are more similar to each other’s than they are to Bystry’s.

“It’s absolutely two against one,” Bystry said. “It’s going to make it a little tougher.”

At a Chamber of Commerce candidate’s forum, much discussion among the three candidates focused on city spending. Bystry is calling for city beautification, including more trees and shrubs and better graffiti removal, saying, “We can’t afford not to beautify La Habra.”

Cheverton and Mahoney have said the costs of such a program would be too high, so the money should be spent on improving other city services.