Flurry of Fund Raising Beats Deadline on Contributions : Politics: Ordinance that became law July 1 spared Anaheim officials from returning thousands in donations.

ANAHEIM —  Avoiding in some instances a newly imposed limit on political donations, the five members of Anaheim’s City Council raised more than $100,000 in campaign contributions during the first six months of the year to pay off previous debts and build up war chests for future elections.

Campaign contribution reports filed with the city clerk’s office also show that Sharon Ericson, president of the city’s largest employee union, and Lou Lopez, a city police officer and a trustee of two Anaheim school districts, plan to run for council seats next year and already are raising money.

Council members have acknowledged that the flurry of fund-raising activity, more than a year before the next election, was largely due to the need to pay off more than $190,000 in campaign debts accumulated last fall, and the looming limits on campaign contributions that would make retirement of those debts harder.

Earlier this year, the Anaheim council adopted an ordinance that forbids council members from accepting contributions greater than $1,000 from any one donor. But the effective date was put off until July 1. If the ordinance had been in effect during the first six months of the year, the campaigns would have been barred from accepting $38,500 of the $131,836 raised.

Mayor Tom Daly, who received $75,124, raised the most money between Jan. 1 and June 30, documents show. Most of that money went to pay off campaign expenses Daly accrued preparing for last November’s election, including a $20,000 loan he received from a local bank. Daly would not have been able to accept $10,000 of the money he raised if the contribution limit had been in effect.

Daly, who spent more than $260,000 on his last campaign, said he needed to raise money to get his campaign treasury out of debt. “I now have a couple thousand dollars in the bank,” Daly said.

Councilman Irv Pickler raised $38,150, even though he cannot run for reelection next year because of term limits imposed by voters last fall. Pickler, who is finishing his third term on the council, said he may use the money to challenge the city charter amendment limiting council members to two terms.

He also said he may use the money to run for mayor next year against incumbent Daly or even run for the Orange County Board of Supervisors or Congress. Pickler would have been prohibited from accepting $8,250 in contributions if the limitation had been in effect.

Congress “may be out of my realm, but anything is possible,” Pickler said.

Daly had no comment on Pickler’s plans.

Councilman Fred Hunter, who lost to Daly in the mayor’s race, raised $14,750. He used that money to pay off outstanding campaign debts. Hunter’s statement also says his campaign still owes him $61,807 because of personal loans he made to the campaign.

“One of these days, I guess I’ll have to throw a fund-raiser,” Hunter said.

Hunter, who said he will not pursue any political office in the future, could not have accepted $2,500 if the contribution limit had been in effect.

Councilman Frank Feldhaus raised $22,063. Most of that money helped pay off some of the campaign debt he accumulated last fall during his $97,000 campaign to get elected. But he still owes Pickler $42,000 of a $51,000 loan made to his campaign two weeks before the election. Feldhaus would have been required to turn back $1,500 of the sum he collected if the contribution limits had been in effect.

Feldhaus could not be reached Wednesday.

Councilman Bob D. Simpson, who has said he will not seek reelection next year, received $3,750. He could not be reached for comment.

Ericson, the employee union head, has raised $36,270, including a $20,000 loan she received from her husband, an Anaheim firefighter. Ericson has worked in the city’s Recreation Department for 22 years and is president of the Anaheim Municipal Employees Assn. The union’s political action committee gave Ericson $5,000 as did the Orange County Employees Assn.