Despite Musing, Mayor Schedules Fund-Raiser : Politics: Anaheim’s Hunter said he might never take another contribution. His $125-a-plate event may surprise some.

Last winter, Mayor Fred Hunter said that the general perception was that the City Council’s votes were being bought by large campaign contributions, that the perception was sometimes reality and that he might never take another contribution.

So it may have come as a surprise to some last week when they found in their mail an invitation from Hunter’s campaign organization to a $125-a-person fund-raising dinner on Aug. 27 at the Anaheim Hilton and Towers.

Asked about the fund-raiser, Hunter on Tuesday would say only, “No comment.”

A 50-year-old personal injury attorney, he is seeking his third two-year term as mayor.

Earlier this year, Hunter began pushing for a city charter amendment that would prohibit candidates from receiving more than $1,000 from any donor, once saying, “I wish we could make (the limit) $100.”

Even as late as two weeks ago, Hunter, who has raised more than $575,000 for past city election bids, said people “snickered” when he announced last January that he might not have any fund-raisers for his November reelection bid, but “so far, I’ve kept my word.”

The invitations sent out last week list members of the host committee: executives from some of the city’s most powerful political interests, including Disneyland, the Los Angeles Rams, three large developers, the city’s trash hauler and leaders of the city’s police, fire and municipal employee unions. Leaders of local neighborhood groups are also listed.

Councilman Tom Daly, Hunter’s opponent in the mayor’s race in the Nov. 3 election, is an executive with the Building Industry Assn., a builders trade group. He had $89,868 in his campaign treasury as of June 30, according to documents filed with the city clerk’s office.

Daly lists contributions from several development companies and Disney, as well as the Apartment Assn. of Orange County and the Motor Car Dealers Assn. of Orange County.

“I don’t want to judge whether or not (Hunter) has kept his promises,” Daly said. “The citizens are the best judge.”

He defended, however, the need for large-scale political fund raising in the city saying: “It’s a city of 280,000 people with 100,000 voters.”

Last December, The Times Orange County Edition detailed how hundreds of thousands of dollars have poured into the political coffers of Anaheim mayoral and City Council candidates from developers, businesses, city labor unions and other special interest groups.

“The perception is that the City Council is being bought,” Hunter said in an interview then. “That perception is sometimes a reality. When the general public sees us collecting $200,000 for a $700-a-month job, the question is: ‘Why?’ ”