ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : Popejoy Caught Between a Board and a Hard Sell : Politics: CEO must try not to anger the supervisors too much while pushing a tax hike to skeptical public.

With the voters’ verdict on a controversial sales tax proposal just four days away, Orange County Chief Executive Officer William J. Popejoy has been walking a line so fine it can hardly be seen: How to sell a half-cent sales tax increase to an angry, skeptical public without alienating his own bosses so much that he loses his job.

The conflict escalated Thursday, with Popejoy’s sudden request that the Orange County Grand Jury consider removing Supervisor Roger R. Stanton from office, contending the veteran supervisor recently undermined the county’s lawsuit against Merrill Lynch & Co. by disclosing a settlement figure.

Popejoy’s gambit, which came without advance notice to any member of the board, immediately sparked speculation over a range of topics, from its impact on Tuesday’s Measure R election to the effect on Popejoy’s own future with the county.

“This is unfortunate because it diverts energy away from the task at hand, which is the [county’s] recovery from bankruptcy. It’s a clash of personalities and a confrontation right before the election, which is usually counterproductive,” said Supervisor William G. Steiner, a supporter of Measure R.

“And unfortunately, it reinforces the feeling of the board that Bill operates independently--which is a strength, but can also be a liability.”

Popejoy, the top advocate for Measure R, would face a daunting task in the best of times, given Orange County voters’ historic hatred of new taxes. But these days, he must perform an even more delicate balancing act.

As Popejoy speaks out for the measure, using his own cachet with the public to drum up support for the tax hike, he must also distance himself from the supervisors who gave him his job--and whom much of the public blame for the fiscal catastrophe.

Even before his audacious approach to the grand jury, the county’s strong-willed chief executive already had rankled supervisors by usurping much of their decision-making authority and keeping them in the dark about some essential matters.

He has flatly suggested that Measure R would fare better if the three supervisors who were in office when the bankruptcy occurred--Stanton, Steiner and Gaddi H. Vasquez--announced they would not run again. Vasquez has since announced he won’t seek reelection in order to spend more time with his family.

In four tumultuous months in office, Popejoy has also irritated the supervisors with pointed public criticism of Stanton and board colleague Jim Silva, and a measure of disdain for much of the political process.

For the most part, the supervisors have been unable to respond, other than pleading with Popejoy to keep them informed and asking him to submit to what one county insider called “occasional trips to the woodshed” for his repeated failure to do so.

As a condition of his unpaid tenure in the county’s hot seat, the chief executive negotiated a contract by which the board cannot remove him without a 4-to-1 vote--a move that now seems politically prescient.

Supervisors reached Thursday declined to speculate about Popejoy’s future with the county. The issue, they said, involved a personnel matter and they could not discuss it.

“I think it would be premature to try to evaluate anything from what has transpired today,” Vasquez said. “I have not had a chance to talk to [Popejoy] yet and I’m not in a position to comment.”

The county has hired the Los Angeles executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles to begin the hunt for Popejoy’s eventual successor, but Vasquez said the action was in line with the timetable set when Popejoy was hired in February.

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While there have been ups and downs during Popejoy’s tenure, Vasquez said, “I think he has done a very commendable job in the face of some very adverse circumstances, as we all have.”

But Steiner conceded that “Bill Popejoy has put all of his energies into the passage of Measure R. His contribution to solving the crisis could be jeopardized if Measure R fails. If Popejoy remains as the CEO, then his effectiveness will be dependent on what he has up his sleeve” as an alternative strategy for the county’s recovery.

At a minimum, Thursday’s action moved Popejoy’s conflict with at least one board member to a new level, said UCI Prof. Mark Baldassare.

“I think this action means that the relationship between Bill Popejoy and at least one member of the board has gone from being tense to very confrontational and that certainly, the long-term working relationship between those two will be affected,” Baldassare said. “That makes it very difficult for them to do their jobs.”

Popejoy said this week he will stay at the county’s helm regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s election. But with the growing disenchantment with him on the part of the supervisors and with his tenure so closely linked to Measure R, many county observers wondered Thursday whether he would be allowed to do so.

Buck Johns, a member of the conservative Lincoln Club and a key player in Citizens Against the Tax Increase, said Popejoy “knows Measure R is going down and he is taking vindictive shots.”

“It is just . . . shocking that a guy who is in a position like Popejoy is running a suicide mission for Measure R and would take shots. I think it is totally embarrassing. Popejoy is the one who ought to resign.”

But Connie Haddad, president of the League of Women Voters of Orange County, said she would hate to see Popejoy depart before his nine-month commitment is up.

“I am definitely in favor of his staying on,” Haddad said. “What’s the other choice? More upheaval? Do we actually trust those supervisors to get somebody as good or better to take his place?”

Popejoy said he will honor the commitment he made to stay with the county until November.

“I will not quit,” he said, even if voters reject Measure R, the cornerstone of the plan to rescue the county from the worst municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. “I don’t want to walk away acting like someone who’s upset because the voters didn’t follow my plan.”

Popejoy remains, for the most part, unapologetic about his run-ins with the supervisors.

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When he was hired, he recalled this week, “I made the comment that I probably would end up offending all of them somewhere along the line. It wasn’t a promise, but it turns out it was a pretty accurate description.

“If I went out of my way to make them all happy, I don’t think I’d have a prayer of being effective,” he said. “My goal is very simple--to get the county out of bankruptcy as quickly as possible.”

Thursday evening, Popejoy’s top adviser, Paul S. Nussbaum, reiterated that the CEO has no intention of quitting.

“I don’t think that Bill is by character one who quits and walks away,” Nussbaum said.

Recent polls indicate that Popejoy and other Measure R supporters are fighting an uphill battle with the voters, but his personal popularity with the electorate remains high. A Times Orange County Poll conducted earlier this month shows that voters believe he is doing a much better job than the supervisors at handling the county’s financial affairs.

Still, the supervisors have left little doubt they will try to regain some of their lost authority once the election is behind them.

The board, Silva said, should have been “more demanding” in asking the chief executive to communicate with them about substantive issues. “I think that’s the direction we’re heading after the election,” said Silva, who opposes the sales tax hike.

Times staff writers Jodi Wilgoren and Peter M. Warren and correspondent Shelby Grad contributed to this report.