Tax Reversal Sprang From Unlikely Source : Government: Anaheim Councilman William Ehrle’s stunning break with two allies brought about the rescission of a 4% levy on utility bills.

Perhaps as stunning as the City Council’s decision last week to rescind a 4% utility tax was the identity of the councilman who reversed his position and pushed the matter to a vote.

William D. (Bill) Ehrle, a quiet part of a council triumvirate that includes Mayor Fred Hunter and Bob D. Simpson, said he broke with the pack to do “the right thing for the city.”

But others, including council colleagues, say Ehrle simply saw his political future flash before him in a groundswell of tax protesters who would have remembered him in the 1992 elections.

“When he came out with that, I almost fell off my chair,” said Councilman Irv Pickler of Ehrle’s dramatic switch.

Only a week before, and in the face of a challenge by the newly formed Anaheim Coalition Against Taxes, Hunter, Simpson and Ehrle affirmed their support for the utility levy as a way to close the gap on a city budget shortfall that now approaches $14 million.

“I remember him being quite adamant about the tax at that time,” said former Anaheim Mayor William Thom, an ACT member.

But last week, Ehrle caught most everyone in the council chamber flat-footed.

In the middle of the council meeting, the councilman turned the spotlight on himself. Pulling a prepared text from his pocket, he read a carefully crafted reversal, rarely looking up.

He talked about taxpayer hardships brought on by the recession, saying the tax would only represent “a temporary bandage” and not a solution. He also talked of the agonizing moments spent before coming to the decision to abandon his support of the tax.

Then, in the same breath, Ehrle called on his colleagues to show their concern for the economic crisis by agreeing to roll back their salaries by 30%.

But it was the salary reduction proposal, described by many as a masterful stroke, that many say telegraphed Ehrle’s political intentions.

“The guy found religion over a seven-day period, come on,” said one councilman who declined to be identified. “Somebody grabbed him by the shoulders and said, ‘Hey, Bill.’ ”

Said Allan Hughes, executive director of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce: “I think he felt the pressure. Who do you think is up in 1992?”

Ehrle’s move to abandon longtime allies Hunter and Simpson to join Pickler and Councilman Tom Daly and rescind the tax is fueling an even more intriguing back-room theory.

Some inside and outside of City Hall believe that political advisers, maybe even Hunter himself, helped script Ehrle’s reversal, bolstering the councilman’s position with the voters next fall and preserving a coveted council majority.

“There’s no question in my mind that Fred knew,” Pickler said. “I know (Ehrle) got counseling. . . . I think other people scripted out what he had.”

Although Ehrle admitted that he discussed his intentions with the mayor before the council meeting, he denied that Hunter or other political advisers helped craft his position.

“I got to do that by myself,” the councilman said. “I sat in my little office and wrote up my ideas. Bill Ehrle is his own man and thinks on his own feet.”

Hunter said immediately after the tax discussion that Ehrle had not discussed his plan with him before the meeting. But others who appreciate the tight alliance between the councilman and mayor doubt that Ehrle would move so boldly without consulting his longtime friend.

“From looking at his face,” said Amin David, an ACT member and onetime group spokesman, watching a video playback of Tuesday night’s events, “I think (Hunter) knew.”

Thom said the test of how much the mayor knew of Ehrle’s plan would come in subsequent weeks.

“If outwardly the voting block (of Hunter, Ehrle and Simpson) remains together, then that should tell you something,” Thom said. “If the vote keeps splitting, then things have been damaged quite a bit.”

Immediately after Ehrle’s action, Thom said he believed that the councilman’s statement had been prepared with help from outside political advisers. By Friday, the former mayor said he thought that Ehrle “did it by himself”

“I talked to Bill,” Thom said. “I think he knew he was in deep doo-doo. But I think Fred had been clued in. Fred looks out more for Fred than anything else. He usually does things to his advantage.”

Ehrle, meanwhile, said his decision would actually buy him political trouble from city employee groups who now face the prospect of department cutbacks to balance the budget.

The councilman has already drawn the ire of Sharon Ericson, president of the Anaheim Municipal Employees Assn., who said last week that she was “shocked” by Ehrle’s reversal.

Ehrle said later in the week that his decision was not a vote against the employees but simply a vote against the tax.

“I have always been supported by the police and fire associations,” he said. “I did this with a full knowledge that I probably was going to upset some people. If I wanted to maintain the status quo, I would have kept my mouth shut.”