Letter Campaign Urges Ehrle’s Appointment to Anaheim Council

A group calling itself the Anaheim Coalition of Taxpayers mailed out 30,000 letters last weekend, asking residents to urge the City Council to appoint William D. Ehrle to the council seat left vacant by Don R. Roth’s election to the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

Each letter contained a form letter to Mayor Ben Bay and members of the council and a postage-paid envelope addressed to the mayor.

Mayor Pro Tem Miriam Kaywood criticized the letter Tuesday, saying, “It certainly shows how to disrupt a city.”

But Bay said Kaywood and Councilman Irv Pickler were critical of the mailing because “it caught them with their pants down.”

The council is split, 2 to 2, on the selection of a replacement for Roth. Under the law, the council can either appoint a fifth person or call a special election.

Two council members--Bay and Fred Hunter--want to appoint Ehrle, a defeated council candidate in the Nov. 4 election, but Kaywood and Pickler are adamantly opposed. All four, however, said they would prefer to avoid an election and save time and money by appointing a fifth council member.

“They can get as many (letters) as they want,” Pickler said, emphasizing that the number of responses will not change his mind.

The coalition responsible for the mailing is associated with an old, now inactive group called Coalition of Anaheim Leaders. Ehrle was one of that group’s founders.

Councilman Hunter said Tuesday that he is actively supporting Ehrle and contacting community and business leaders as well as local political action committees from police, fire and other groups to ask for their support of Ehrle. Bay said he recommends Ehrle “to people I talk to . . . but there is no organized effort by me in that area.”

Ehrle, 44, ran for one of three open council seats on Nov. 4 and trailed closely, ending up fourth in the voting.

Asked Tuesday if he was still campaigning for the job, Ehrle said: “Of course, why would I not be lobbying for the job? I have spent over $90,000. I have over 200 volunteers who are very upset that I haven’t been appointed yet.

“The overwhelming number of people responding to this letter reinforces that I am the choice of the people.”

Joe White, chairman of the coalition, said residents have mailed in between 3,000 and 4,000 of the form letters since Saturday.

The council is scheduled to discuss the selection of a new member next Tuesday.