Candidate for District 3 council seat suspends his campaign

It's down to three candidates for the District 3 council seat, incumbent Jerry McGrane, at-large council member Pat Shey and Kathy Potts.

Cal Busch, a fourth candidate whose name will still appear on the Nov. 3 election ballot, says he is suspending his campaign

Busch, 52, of 1334 C St. SW, says he has too many bills and too much property loss from the June 2008 flood to focus on an election race.

In the short term, he says he is headed out of town to work. He is a carpenter who works at nuclear power plants when they shut down for refueling.

Busch says he decided earlier to run for the District 3 seat - which leaps the Cedar River and includes the Oak Hill, Czech Village and Rompot neighborhoods hard hit by the flood - to draw attention to what he says is the slow pace of City Hall's flood-recovery effort. He added he still feels the same way.

With Busch gone, left in the District 3 race are incumbent Jerry McGrane, 69, 1105 Eighth St. SE, a neighborhood leader; at-large council member Pat Shey, 50, 501 Knollwood Dr. SE, an attorney and business owner; and Kathy Potts, 50, 1118 First St. SW, a homemaker, community activist and former state legislative candidate.