Let’s Keep the Goal of Recovery in Mind : Supervisors, Popejoy Need to Check Egos at the Door

Long months of crisis management have frayed the relationship between the Board of Supervisors and the person brought on to fix the enormous problems of bankruptcy, County Chief Executive Officer William J. Popejoy.

It is perhaps unsurprising that this is so, given the unique circumstances and the broad charter Popejoy enjoys. There is no local precedent for this relationship, either, so in the absence of fixed stars to steer by, it is important for all sides to keep the larger goal of recovery in mind. Above all, it is crucial that egos be checked at the door in the interest of addressing a true crisis.

Recently, county officials and observers have said that the supervisors are waning in influence in the face of Popejoy’s power, with the chief executive officer taking on more of the decision-making authority. There are concerns that Popejoy has made too little of an attempt to keep the supervisors informed about the efforts to put the county back on its feet, and that he takes matters in hand without consultation. The most politically sensitive matter for the board has been the medicine of a half-cent sales tax increase proposed by Popejoy as essential to recovery; the board was led by Popejoy’s analysis to put the question on the ballot for voters June 27 even though it necessitated a retreat from a commitment to no new taxes.

Now even the board’s most effective leader, Supervisor Marian Bergeson, offers a touch of sarcasm to characterize the relationship as it has evolved: “We have a wonderful way of getting information. We read the newspaper in the morning.” This perception was fueled by the news that Popejoy had turned down an offer from J. P. Morgan Securities to craft a $2-billion bankruptcy bailout package, which supervisors learned after the fact. And there was the recent assertion that Popejoy was said to be at home with the flu when he was in fact on his way to New York to meet in secret with the chairman of Merrill Lynch & Co. to discuss a possible settlement of the county’s $2.4-billion lawsuit against the firm. Supervisors were understandably miffed at not being informed until a week afterward.

Popejoy does enjoy public support, and has made substantial efforts to close the budgetary gap. Perhaps the strongest argument in favor of his modus operandi is that without his efforts, there arguably would be little progress from the board in bankruptcy recovery. The board’s collective inertia and unwillingness to get behind new taxation as part of restitution argues for decisive emergency executive action in the absence of anything resembling real leadership from the supervisors.

Were it not for Popejoy’s decisiveness, the county likely still would be adrift and headed nowhere. The board as a group would be in a much stronger position if it could make a convincing case that it has been interested in much more than avoiding the political liability of having ushered in new taxes to fix a very real problem.

At the same time, even the temporary emergency powers allocated to the chief executive argue for as much collaboration and consultation as possible. While Popejoy is the solution and former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron was the problem, it is perhaps worth remembering that the troubles of the latter were allowed to develop in part from unchecked freedom granted by a trusting board that asked no questions.

The task between now and November, when Popejoy steps down, should remain fixed in everybody’s minds, nevertheless. It is to restore the county to fiscal health and get on with building a brighter future.