<i> A behind-the-scenes look at Orange County’s political life</i> : Stanton Isn’t Talking, but Expect a Plan B in Lieu of Measure R

Roger R. Stanton is the only member of the Board of Supervisors yet to announce a position on Measure R, the proposed half-cent sales tax increase that goes before the voters in a month. Stanton has promised to take a position before the June 27 election and he would prefer to get behind a recovery plan that doesn’t include a tax hike.

Supervisor Jim Silva, a frequent ally of Stanton’s on the board, earlier this month came out against the tax, while Supervisors Marian Bergeson, William G. Steiner and Gaddi H. Vasquez have said they will vote for it.

Silva told The Times a week ago that he and others in the Hall of Administration are “burning the midnight oil” trying to “find a solution without the tax.”

While he wouldn’t be specific about everyone he is working with, the betting is that Stanton is pressing hard for such an alternative plan too.

Buck Johns, a longtime friend and confidant of Stanton’s, predicted last week that the supervisor will oppose the tax and come out with his own Plan B for getting the county out of bankruptcy. “That’s my guess,” Johns said.

Johns, a member of the Lincoln Club board of directors, said he has spoken with Stanton “at length about it. I think he is kind of measuring himself.”

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Home Court Advantage: It may be a San Diego-based GOP convention, but two Orange Countians, both of them from the Irvine Co., are being congratulated for helping the city of San Diego bring the Republican National Convention to California in 1996.

Irvine Co. Chairman Donald L. Bren and Executive Vice President Gary Hunt “were instrumental in helping to persuade” the Republican National Committee to choose San Diego for the convention, said Gerald L. Parsky, chairman of the host committee.

Gov. Pete Wilson, of course, is seeking the GOP presidential nomination, and some say he will be helped by having the convention in California, especially in his hometown of San Diego. Bren, a longtime Wilson supporter, is working as Wilson’s national finance chairman.

The convention runs from Aug. 10-16 in 1996.

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No Side: Citizens Against the Tax Increase, the GOP and business group, will be in the mails this week for the first time with their message against Measure R. That’s about two weeks after the Yes side began its continuing mail barrage.

No embarrassment there, said campaign spokesman Mark Thompson, who seems to be borrowing from Muhammad Ali’s old “rope-a-dope” strategy, which called for letting an opponent exhaust himself by flailing away with ineffective punches. “Let them spend some of that money,” Thompson said of the Yes side’s cash advantage.

Thompson figures on “touching 100,000 homes” with the mailer, which will be part of their absentee ballot campaign.

Citizens Against also is going ahead with polling and will be contacting 300 to 400 voters to help get a sense of the electorate and hone its campaign message. The committee is especially interested in the reaction of families with children to what Thompson calls the tactic “of scaring them that the schools will close.”

The group has opened its headquarters at 18001 Irvine Blvd. in Tustin. They can be reached at (714) 573-2252.

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Yes Side: Citizens for Economic Progress, the lead group backing Measure R, began radio advertising last week. The 60-second spots have been heard across the radio spectrum--KNX, KFI, all the majors, said spokesman Stu Mollrich.

“We are doing a lot of drive time . . . news programming, the Wave, country and western,” he said. One place they aren’t is Rush Limbaugh’s morning show. “They are very expensive,” he said. “One of the most expensive you can get.”

The current radio spot is geared to the group’s absentee ballot campaign, which is being backed this week with another 500,000 mailings, he said.

The committee is reaching out to parents of schoolchildren, said Mollrich, targeting them with mailers that emphasize that without the sales tax, “a best-case scenario leaves schools countywide $100 million short . . . money that local schools cannot afford to lose.”

A second postal front is being opened by Public Safety for Yes on R, which is a separate coalition of police and lawyers groups. The group is sending out about 100,000 pieces this week to residents who have a history of frequent voting, spokesman Dan Wooldridge said.

Citizens for Economic Progress is in Santa Ana, at 401 Civic Center Drive West. The group can be reached at (714) 550-0752.

UPCOMING EVENTS

* Tuesday: Measure R debate featuring Orange County Chief Executive Officer William J. Popejoy versus Bruce Whitaker of the Committees of Correspondence. Sponsored by the Senior Citizens Advisory Council of Orange County. At the Community Center, 1845 Park, Costa Mesa. at 1 p.m. Information: (714) 567-7500

* Thursday: Democratic Foundation of Orange County honors former Assemblyman Tom Umberg at its annual membership meeting and board installation. Begins at 6:30 p.m. in Newport Beach. Reservations and information: (714) 979-4436.

* Thursday: Democrats of North Orange County monthly meeting will hear Juan Francisco Lara of UC Irvine speak on affirmative action. Meets at Sizzler at 1401 N. Harbor Blvd. in Fullerton. Dinner at 6 p.m., meeting at 7:30. Information: (714) 680-0986.

* Thursday: “Comedy Night” fund-raiser for Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) at the Doubletree Hotel in Orange at 7:30 p.m. Information: (714) 539-7605.

* Thursday: Municipal Judge Margaret R. Anderson speaks to the Federation of Republican Women 10:30 a.m. at Turnip Rose, 300 S. Flower St. in Orange. Information: (714) 838-6122.

* Saturday: Chris Norby for Assembly in 72nd District fund-raiser. 7:30 p.m. at Fullerton College’s Wilshire Auditorium, at Lemon Street and Chapman Avenue. Information: (714) 434-2718.

Compiled by Times political writer Peter M. Warren.

Politics ’95 appears every Sunday.