ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : Irvine Co.’s Bren Throws Weight Behind Passage of Sales Tax Hike : Politics: It is the first comment on crisis from chairman of O.C.’s largest landowner. Tax critics say support isn’t surprising.

In his first public comments about Orange County’s bankruptcy, Donald L. Bren, the reclusive and influential chairman of the Irvine Co., Thursday called on voters to pass a half-cent sales tax hike.

Bren, the billionaire real estate magnate whose company is the largest landowner in Orange County, joins a group of influential business leaders who support the tax. Bren has previously taken a behind-the-scenes role in the county’s crisis while his right-hand man, Irvine Co. executive Gary Hunt, was intimately involved in developing the county’s fiscal recovery strategy.

“There is no quick, easy, painless solution to this crisis,” Bren said during an annual meeting in Irvine for shareholders of his company’s publicly traded apartment company. “All of us need to get behind the county’s recovery plan and pass this sales tax. We can’t look outside Orange County for a solution.”

Bren, whose privately held company owns one-sixth of the land in Orange County, said the Irvine Co. has a strong stake here and can’t just pick up and leave.

“If we fail to act it will leave a cloud of uncertainty and confusion for a long time. That’s something we can’t live with,” he said.

Passage of the tax on June 27 would bring back confidence in Orange County, protect the quality of life, restore local government and avoid more bankruptcies and bond defaults, Bren said.

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Backers of Measure R, the proposed half-cent sales tax increase, said it was unclear whether Bren’s support would tip the scales in their favor.

“Any time anyone prominent comes out in support of something you win some and you lose some. I hope it helps,” said Connie Haddad, president of the League of Women Voters, and a member of the committee in support of the sales tax.

“People like Bren who do not usually speak out are finally choosing to do so because their conscience will not let them keep quiet,” she said.

However, anti-tax advocates like Bruce Whitaker, said Bren’s support was not surprising because the Irvine Co. is “one of the prime drivers of the tax, along with Wall Street.”

Whitaker said tax opponents will be drafting advertising campaigns that portray local real estate developers and Wall Street bond buyers as the masterminds of the sales tax.

“The Irvine Co. has a very keen self-interest in seeing this tax passed. And now they are trying to pin the tail on the taxpayer,” said Whitaker, a member of “No on R.”

But County Sheriff Brad Gates, chairman of Citizens for Economic Progress--Yes on Measure R campaign, disagreed.

“No one individual or company has driven this ship,” said Gates. “The recovery plan, which includes the sales tax, was not developed by the Irvine Co. alone. It’s a joint effort with broad-based support.”

Irvine Co. executive Hunt helped draft the settlement recovery plan for the nearly 200 school districts, cities and other agencies who lost money by investing in then-Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron’s investment pool. Through Citron’s ill-fated bets on interest rates, the county’s pool lost $1.7 billion.

Many of the agencies that lost money in Citron’s pool, such as the Irvine Ranch Water District and the Orange County Transportation Authority, have projects that directly affect Irvine Co. developments on its Irvine Ranch, a 90-square-mile swath of land which includes significant parts of the cities of Irvine, Newport Beach and Tustin. It is the largest urban master-planned community in the United States.

If pool investors are not made whole on their lost investments, in part through passage of a sales tax, agencies such as the water district or local schools could be forced to make cuts which might affect Irvine Co. residential or commercial projects, real estate specialists have said.

On Thursday, Gates praised Bren’s move to take a stance on the tax, saying the local land baron’s public support would be “helpful” to their efforts. The Irvine Co., along other local businesses, was asked to contribute to the pro-tax campaign, but the company has not sent a check yet, Gates said.

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Several Orange County supervisors, who voted to put the tax measure before voters, said they were pleased with Bren’s move.

“Don Bren is very respected in this community,” said Supervisor Marion Bergeson. “He uses his endorsement very judiciously and in that respect I think it could be very helpful.”

William J. Popejoy, the county’s chief executive officer, would not comment.

Larry Thomas, spokesman for the Irvine Co., said Bren’s concerns and support for the sales tax should be shared by every property owner in Orange County. Homes sales were down 26.2% during the quarter and property tax values have fallen since the bankruptcy.

“We believe a sales tax, as part of the overall county plan, is the best and most effective way to get this county out of bankruptcy,” Thomas said, adding that the Irvine Co. would be a “major contributor” to the Measure R campaign.