Supervisors Dilute Power of Popejoy in Wake of Tax Defeat : Bankruptcy: Board limits executive’s authority to make policy decisions. Speakers at contentious meeting harshly criticize officials as being arrogant.

Orange County supervisors, their testiness--and the public’s--shattering hopes for post-election consensus building, moved Thursday to regain some of the clout they had ceded to their strong-willed chief executive officer.

The board placed severe limitations on CEO William J. Popejoy’s authority to make policy decisions and talk to the press. Popejoy had angered some supervisors by--in their view--acting too independently, keeping them in the dark about his plans and publicly criticizing them.

“We clarified some points [of Popejoy’s job] that I think were gray,” said board Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez.

It was the public’s turn Thursday to dish out the criticism. Foes of Measure R, some still gloating over this week’s defeat of the proposed half-cent sales tax increase, used a special public meeting of the Board of Supervisors to blast the panel.

In a session marked by vituperative exchanges between the supervisors and critics of Measure R, one speaker blasted the board members for behaving like “royalty” and treating their constituents like “subjects.”

“There’s an arrogance, a perceived pomposity here,” said Bill Ward, who accused the supervisors of continuing to cater to the desires of the losing side on Measure R.

“The perception is it’s who you are that counts as to how much you’re listened to,” said Ward. “You’re listening to the wrong people. That is what got us into bankruptcy, I would submit.”

“And I would reject,” came the angry response from Vasquez.

“That, I think, is the problem. I rest my case,” Ward retorted, before strolling away from the podium to audience applause.

“We won, you lost, that’s the bottom line,” citizen activist Tom Rogers told the supervisors. “The people have won, and you’re going to have to listen to them.”

Vasquez and Supervisor Roger R. Stanton had stressed that representatives from both the pro- and anti-R camps would be welcome at the special meeting. But one of the biggest points of contention became the list of invitees.

While outspoken tax critics such as Bruce Whitaker and representatives of the Committees of Correspondence were included, there were widespread complaints that the list was weighted in favor of tax supporters, such as Chapman University President Jim Doti.

“I thought it was a joke,” Rogers said.

Many took glee in pointing out that tax supporters, who long contended that there were no alternatives to the sales tax boost, would be contradicting their earlier positions if they participated in an effort to find non-tax solutions to the county’s ever-deepening financial woes.

Vasquez and Stanton were clearly dismayed by the hostility with which the session was greeted. Stanton repeatedly tried to erase misunderstandings that the forum would be some sort of advisory board or formal committee, and he rejected the suggestion that the board was trying to curry favor with Measure R supporters.

Supervisor William G. Steiner cautioned that he did not want to see a “love fest” where everyone agreed, but a “very aggressive debate” on the issues.

An exasperated Stanton shook his head, rolled his eyes and sighed.

“The only potential you have is for something good to come out of this,” Stanton said. “This is going back to the public meeting days of 200 years ago.”

Pleading for support from the public, Stanton stressed that the supervisors had a realistic view of themselves as the “temporary representatives” of the public.

“Temporary is right,” heckled tax opponent Snow Hume of Fullerton.

* INVESTORS SHY AWAY: Municipal bonds in slump. D1