Limits Favored for Supervisors : Times Poll: Seven out of 10 registered voters in county support a two-term restriction on board members’ tenure.

In a year when California voters are considering restricting the terms of state lawmakers, Orange County residents also strongly support setting two-term limits for county supervisors, according to a new poll.

The Times Orange County Poll found that seven out of 10 county voters, including a majority of respondents from both political parties, would support such a restriction. Coupled with strong poll showings registered in recent days by challengers to incumbent officeholders, pollster Mark Baldassare said the results suggest that voters are “not terribly thrilled with the job that anyone’s doing.”

The poll was conducted by Mark Baldassare & Associates, which interviewed 600 Orange County registered voters Monday through Wednesday of last week. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4%.

“In a sense, the voters are saying that all of our legislators and local officials in California are just not solving the problems,” Baldassare said. “It’s the general mood of the public this year.”

County support for local term limits comes at a time when California voters are considering similar limits for state legislators. In the same poll, nearly seven out of 10 Orange County voters favored each of two ballot propositions that call for imposing limits in different ways.

Several Orange County supervisors, all of whom are Republicans, support those limits when it comes to the Democrat-controlled Legislature. But the supervisors are decidedly less quick to endorse the idea when it comes to imposing limits on themselves.

“I know it’s a cliche, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater,” said Supervisor Don R. Roth, chairman of the five-member board. “The people have a day-to-day relationship with their supervisors. It’s a lot different than being 1,000 miles away, in Sacramento or in Washington.”

No ballot measure will appear this November in Orange County to limit supervisorial terms, but supervisors and others acknowledged that the poll results are hardly a ringing endorsement of the county’s governing body.

Even though all five Orange County supervisors are Republicans, the Times poll found that support for limiting their terms came from voters in both parties, with 67% of Democrats backing the idea and 70% of Republicans supporting it. Support was likewise spread out geographically, with 67% of North County residents and 76% of South County residents in favor of limiting supervisorial terms.

Still, several supervisors argued that while term limits might be a good idea for Sacramento, they’re not the answer in Orange County.

“I’m a hell of a person to be talking to about this,” said Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, who has held office for 16 years and who was recently reelected to another four-year term. “But I do think there’s a difference. People have the opportunity to communicate with you more when you’re a local official than when you’re up in Sacramento.”

Riley has announced his intention to step down at the end of his coming term.

At the other end of the spectrum, Tom Rogers, a San Juan Capistrano slow-growth advocate and frequent critic of the county supervisors, said the poll results dramatically illustrate the erosion of public support for the board.

“It’s just an inevitable reaction to the calamity that has befallen the county, particularly South County,” Rogers said. “It reflects the total frustration that people have here with the representation they’re getting.”

Like Rogers, Supervisor Roger R. Stanton, who supports limiting terms of state legislators, said he was “not at all surprised” by the sentiment for capping supervisorial terms as well.

But unlike Rogers, Stanton blamed most of the support for local limits on voter disgust with the Legislature. “I think that’s probably a spillover from the state level,” he said, adding that while he would accept term limits for supervisors and other local officials, he worried that they might force qualified officials out of their jobs.

In June, San Francisco voters overwhelmingly approved an initiative that limits county supervisors there to two consecutive terms. That capped several years of debate on the measure, which voters had previously rejected.

This year, many observers agree that voters are ready to vote their disapproval of their elected representatives, in local as well as statewide races. That disaffection has translated into strong support for two statewide measures to limit terms, Propositions 131 and 140.

“This is the era of term limits,” Newport Beach political analyst Harvey Englander said. “Those county poll numbers are an indication of the deep dissatisfaction that voters have with elected officials at all levels of government.”

How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Orange County poll was conducted Oct. 22 through 24 by Mark Baldassare & Associates. The telephone survey of 600 Orange County registered voters was conducted on weekday nights using a computer-generated random sample of telephone numbers.

For a sample of this size, the margin of error is plus or minus 4%.

Sampling error is just one type of error that can affect opinion polls. Results also can be affected by question wording, survey timing and other variables.

All responses were anonymous, but some agreed to be re-interviewed later for a news story.