BIG GIVERS: Washington lobby group Common Cause,...

BIG GIVERS: Washington lobby group Common Cause, which monitors campaign finances, says Irvine Co. Chairman Donald L. Bren was the real estate industry’s top political giver in 1988-91, shelling out $305,100 to GOP candidates and causes. The group ranks county developers George Argyros ($166,650) at No. 5 and William Lyon ($165,000) at No. 8 nationally. . . . An Irvine Co. spokesman rapped Common Cause as a liberal group and said the donations were legal and proper. . . . The only local congress members in the top 50 recipients of real estate money was Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) at No. 41.