ANAHEIM : Daly Claims Hunter TV Ad ‘Misleading’

City Councilman and mayoral challenger Tom Daly this week accused Mayor Fred Hunter of “misleading the voters” when the mayor said in a television commercial that the Anaheim sports arena’s construction is costing city taxpayers almost nothing.

Daly, who has joined Hunter in consistently voting in favor of the arena’s construction, said a minimum of $15 million of public money has gone into the project, most of it coming from the city’s tax on hotel guests.

The city spent $11 million to purchase the land for the $103-million arena, and Daly said the city has picked up other costs as well.

While the hotel tax revenue comes primarily from tourists and not city residents, “that’s money that could be spent on other things,” such as police or libraries, Daly said. He admits he too voted to spend the money on the arena but said, “I think we need to be up front about this and I object to the way Mr. Hunter is describing the project.”

“To put it nicely, he’s misleading the voters,” said Daly, who is seeking to unseat Hunter in the Nov. 3 election while simultaneously running for reelection to the council.

Hunter on Tuesday denied that the ad is misleading.

“The only reason (Daly) is making this a campaign issue is that he knows he is losing 3 to 1,” Hunter said, referring to surveys he says his campaign has taken. “What that commercial talks about is jobs. Ask those guys nailing boards at the arena what they think about Fred Hunter. This arena is going to create jobs not only now but in the future. . . . Daly should be talking about jobs, not my TV commercials.”

The 30-second commercial, which Hunter is paying to be shown on the local cable television system, begins with a snippet from an ad Hunter ran two years ago. With “1990” superimposed over the scene, Hunter stands in the Phoenix Club parking lot promising that by 1992 an arena would be built on the site.

It then cuts to a segment taped recently. It opens with a shot of the arena, which is under construction and scheduled to open next year. Hunter, who is seeking a third two-year mayoral term, strides into the picture and says: “I’ve kept my promise. The arena is almost complete at almost no cost to the taxpayers of this city.” He then adds that the arena will create hundreds of permanent jobs.

The ad closes with a graphic showing Hunter’s campaign slogan: “A major league mayor for a major league city.”

Daly said that besides not saying that the city bought the land, Hunter also does not explain in the ad what the city may owe on the arena in the future if no professional basketball or ice hockey team commits to playing in the arena.

According to the city’s agreement with the Ogden Corp. and the Nederlander Organization, its partners in the arena project, the city is liable for annual payments of up to $2.5 million for eight years if the facility is not being used by a professional basketball or hockey team.

If one professional team is using the arena, the city is liable for annual payments of up to $1.5 million. The city owes nothing if two professional teams are playing in the arena.

Some city officials have said that it will be at least three years before a National Basketball Assn. team moves to Anaheim--others say it will be sooner--but they hope a National Hockey League team will be playing there beginning next October.

Daly is running one television commercial, also on the local cable system. In it, Daly, standing with an American flag hung behind him, says to the camera that if elected mayor, he will make “government more cost-effective . . . and not raise taxes.”