ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : Measure R Fund-Raising Race Strictly No Contest : Politics: ‘Yes’ side leads $600,000 to 0, but both camps agree it doesn’t mean much yet. ‘No’ side says it will have enough.

If bucks were votes, the half-cent sales tax proposal would be a shoo-in for victory.

The first round of campaign finance reports show the Yes on Measure R side has raised $600,000; the No side has collected zero.

The largest contributor, with a $150,000 contribution to the Citizens for Economic Progress--Yes on Measure R Committee, is the San Francisco-based investment firm Charles Schwab Corp.

Schwab was followed by the Irvine Co. and the California Teachers Assn. at $100,000 each, and the Orange County Employees Assn. at $80,000.

A separate, smaller committee that supports the sales tax increase, Public Safety for Yes on R, has collected $18,200. The largest contribution of $10,000 came from the Orange County Attorneys Assn.

Stu Mollrich, whose consulting firm is coordinating the campaign for Citizens for Economic Progress, said the committee would raise as much money as possible, with a goal of spending $3 million before the June 27 election.

“You need $2 million to campaign effectively countywide,” he said. “We have a detailed story to tell and it takes a lot of effort to tell that story.”

Fred Whitaker, chairman of Citizens Against the Tax Increase, the Republican and business organization opposing Measure R, said his side is receiving many pledges, from the Lincoln Club to local automobile dealers, and “will have sufficient money to do what we need to do to run a good campaign.” The group’s fund-raising goal is $600,000.

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Leaders of several other small groups opposing Measure R--including the Committees of Correspondence and the No on R group affiliated with them--said they also did not file spending reports because they had raised no money.

A spokesman said the No committee avoided pressing contributors for donations before the end of the reporting period, which ended May 13. The deadline for mailing the first spending reports to the registrar of voters passed Thursday. The next reporting period ends June 10.

Commenting on the disparity in campaign funds raised, Dale Dykema, co-chairman of Citizens Against the Tax Increase, said, “it will cost an awful lot less for us to do the job to defeat the measure than it would for the opposition to be able to get it approved. I really think no matter how much money they come up with, they are taking on practically an impossible task.”

Harvey Englander, a veteran political consultant, said the fund-raising imbalance “is not indicative of anything at all.” But “large dollars coming from those who have direct and indirect benefits” could later become a campaign issue.

“I would have looked longingly at that [$150,000] check and said, ‘Could you hold it for a week or two?’ ” he said.

Schwab mutual funds include $41.5 million worth of Orange County bonds, which come due in July, and another $150 million in bonds issued by county schools, said Stephen B. Ward, the company’s senior vice president.

“Our motives are very simple,” Ward said. “We are a note-holder, but if the county stays in bankruptcy it is a bad precedent for the whole state. We are backing the county plan. The plan has to work. There is no alternative on the table. It is the right thing for the county, the school districts and the note-holders.”

Measure R would raise the sales tax half a cent for 10 years.

Already, Citizens for Economic Progress, headed by Sheriff Brad Gates, has spent $306,476, much of it on broadcast advertising deposits, mailers, printing, postage and consulting services, including $50,000 to Butcher, Forde & Mollrich, its consulting firm.