Voters to Fill 5th Seat on Anaheim Council

The four members of the Anaheim City Council, bitterly divided over who should fill a vacant council seat, agreed Tuesday that the matter will have to go to the city’s voters.

Whoever wins the June 2 special election may create a new voting majority on the City Council. At stake, council members say, is how the city is run.

Potentially at stake also is the city manager’s job, the mayor’s job and, some have said, greater influence by outside interest groups.

City’s Future at Issue

The election, Councilman Fred Hunter said, will determine “how do we run this city?”

Hunter and Mayor Ben Bay have been critical of city management and say too much responsibility is given to City Manager William O. Talley and his staff. Bay, elected to mayor in November, has said he would consider resigning from the council if the council cannot change the way the city is run.

Mayor Pro Tem Miriam Kaywood and Councilman Irv Pickler have said Bay is seeking greater power. Both have praised Talley and the council’s relations with management. Pickler said Tuesday that it is the city manager’s job to run the city and the council’s job to give direction. “I don’t think any one of us up here is capable of running this city,” Pickler said.

Bay and Hunter are supporting businessman William D. Ehrle, a runner-up in the race for three council posts last year, for the seat left vacant by former Mayor Don R. Roth, who was elected to the Orange County Board of Supervisors in November. Bay and Hunter point to Ehrle’s showing in the last election as “a mandate from the people” that he should be appointed.

Kaywood and Pickler staunchly opposed Ehrle and between them have in the past two months nominated 21 people--all turned down on a 2-2 vote.

On Tuesday, Pickler reiterated his nomination for community activist Herb Leo. Once again the council deadlocked 2 to 2.

Kaywood and Pickler have consistently argued that Ehrle is aligned with special interest groups. On Tuesday, Ehrle--flanked by several dozen supporters--again rebutted those allegations and said in a prepared statement: “I state emphatically that no one group or individual manipulates, controls or will influence the vote of Bill Ehrle.”

One of the groups supporting Ehrle--the Anaheim Municipal Employees Assn.--also took exception to being called a “special interest group.” Association President Sharon Ericson said Tuesday that her group, which represents 900 employees, is supporting Ehrle because “the council is on the verge of taking a new direction in the handling of the city’s affairs.”

$90,000 in November

Following Tuesday’s meeting, Ericson said one of the reasons the group is backing Ehrle is because he has pledged to oust the city manager. Hunter, the council’s newest member, also has said he would fire Talley. Bay has refused to say whether he would fire Talley, but he has in the past voted against the manager’s contract.

Ehrle, who spent about $90,000 in the November election, said he already has begun campaigning for the special election and has about $30,000 in pledges thus far.

Even as the council agreed to put the dispute to the voters, the rancor continued:

Hunter told a rhetorical story about a “young boy and an old man” and concluded it by walking over to Pickler--with his hands clasped around an imaginary symbolic bird. He told Pickler the bird’s fate was up to him. Pickler responded tersely, “I think you missed your calling, Mr. Hunter. You should have been a preacher.”