Popejoy Blasts Away at Three Supervisors : Bankruptcy: Outgoing CEO hurls barbs at Stanton, Silva and Vasquez. Board members downplay departure.

Orange County Chief Executive Officer William J. Popejoy, who unexpectedly resigned this week, criticized the government he tried to lead out of bankruptcy Thursday and took shots at several county supervisors, saying they don’t have the talent to solve the crisis.

Meanwhile, the supervisors sought to put the most positive spin on the latest upheaval, downplaying the role their top executive would have played in the ongoing bankruptcy recovery effort.

“I’m disappointed in the county government’s leadership and greatly concerned about the organization, which is dysfunctional in my mind,” said Popejoy, who will officially step down July 31--four months before his contract expires.

One day after he resigned in frustration, claiming that interfering supervisors had made his job impossible, Popejoy chiefly took to task his critics on the board, Roger R. Stanton, Jim Silva and Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez.

“I don’t know how they are going to get back to the management of this county, when they haven’t shown any aptitude to do that as far as I can see,” said Popejoy, who long contended that the lack of consensus among supervisors made the role of a strong-willed CEO all the more critical. “You have five CEOs now and that won’t work. It just won’t work.”

Vasquez said he was disappointed to hear of Popejoy’s remarks, but said he would not engage in public name-calling. Stanton and Silva likewise declined to comment.

The three board members targeted by Popejoy have criticized him in the past for failing to keep them informed about county developments and frequently acting without first apprising his bosses.

They have complained that Popejoy sought to circumvent the democratic process, which they had been elected to uphold. The supervisors have also criticized him for relying on an unsuccessful half-cent sales tax proposal and not thoroughly examining other alternatives--despite their repeated demands that he do so.

In an interview, Popejoy complained that Vasquez had been a “disappointment” and “frustration.” He was particularly dismayed that the board chairman had publicly complained that he was uncommunicative. “I’ve been with him more hours a week than I’m with my wife,” Popejoy said.

Asked if he thought Vasquez was a good leader, Popejoy replied curtly: “Gaddi is a good speaker.”

“I’m sorry and disappointed he would make those comments,” said Vasquez, who said in his defense that fellow board members repeatedly complained about learning of county developments from the media. “I guess it’s how you define communications,” he said.

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Popejoy said Silva and Stanton--with whom he had sparred publicly--were the two supervisors who were the quickest to gripe about his proposals without offering suggestions of their own.

“They really haven’t been contributors, and when things didn’t work out that well, they sort of backed off and said ‘Hey, that was Bill’s idea,’ ” remarked Popejoy, who added that virtually every element of his bankruptcy recovery plan received formal board endorsement. “The board’s involvement [in crafting bankruptcy solutions] has been basically nonexistent.”

The millionaire Newport Beach businessman, who agreed to serve the county without taking a salary, insisted he was not speaking out of bitterness but out of concern for the future of the county, which lost $1.7 billion on a risky investment strategy that ultimately triggered the unprecedented bankruptcy.

In evaluating his bosses on the Board of Supervisors, Popejoy complained that the supervisors have all gone their own way except for Silva, who he said could always be counted on to follow Stanton’s lead. “Only one of them thinks, so they can’t have a difference,” Popejoy said with a smile.

He also accused Silva of wanting to “run the county,” but questioned whether he had the skills to do so.

“I would say based on Mr. Silva’s background that he is not prepared to be a manager of Orange County,” Popejoy said. “As laudable as it is to have a career as a high school teacher, I don’t know that that necessarily prepares you to run a large government entity.”

He had similarly uncharitable words for Stanton, whom he has asked the County Grand Jury to investigate for alleged misconduct of office. Popejoy claims Stanton breached confidential information by suggesting a settlement amount in the county’s $2-billion lawsuit against Merrill Lynch. Stanton denies he committed any wrongdoing.

“Mr. Stanton has been here for some 15 years and I think that many problems have developed of an extreme serious nature under his watch,” Popejoy said Thursday.

Popejoy had mostly warm words for Supervisor Marian Bergeson and William G. Steiner, but Steiner was taken aback to learn of comments made about his colleagues.

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“My mother always told me that if you can’t say anything good about somebody you shouldn’t say anything,” Steiner said.

Popejoy’s chief complaint was that the board members--politicians with little or no management or financial expertise--refused to step back and let him do his job. He said his replacement--whom the board is scrambling to find--will have even more problems, because supervisors intend to rein in his or her authority.

“Whatever they call it, it will be a watered-down job,” Popejoy said, referring to an ongoing dispute over exactly what his replacement’s title will be--chief operating officer, or chief administrative officer. “They could call it ‘God’ and it would be a watered-down job. It will be nothing more than a glorified executive coordinator.”

Even as their CEO lambasted the board, the supervisors tried to maintain a positive outlook on their situation.

Vasquez dismissed Popejoy’s resignation as just an unfortunate “interruption” in the county’s financial recovery and disputed any notion the CEO’s departure was a significant blow to board.

“There are many, many people, talented people working to resolve this bankruptcy,” Vasquez said early Thursday.

Bergeson also said Popejoy’s resignation should not be considered a dire obstacle.

“There is no need for this to be a setback to the recovery plan,” Bergeson said. “Our efforts will still go forward.”

Supervisors acknowledged, however, that Popejoy’s resignation puts more focus on the board, brings them closer to a possible state takeover and forces them to expedite a search for a new county executive.

At least three supervisors--Bergeson, Vasquez and Steiner--placed calls to Gov. Pete Wilson’s office to assure him that the county could handle the crisis without state intervention. Wilson had previously lobbied several board members to continue supporting Popejoy, and expressed disappointment that the board’s actions helped trigger Popejoy’s premature departure.

Still to be determined is whether the state--already in doubt about the county’s ability to extricate itself from bankruptcy--now has yet another reason to send in a state trustee. Several supervisors said they fear some sort of a state role is inevitable. Popejoy said he does not believe that is a possibility.

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Popejoy made the decision to step down after the board met in closed session last week to clip his authority and demand that he be more responsive to the board--a meeting that he likened to “a trip to the woodshed.”

Popejoy warned that the supervisors might someday regret trying to reassert themselves. He said the public was dissatisfied with a board-controlled administrator, such as his predecessor, Ernie Schneider. Going back to an old way of doing business will outrage voters, he predicted.

“I think that they have a whole lot of audacity to suggest going back to something that the people of his county are so infuriated with,” Popejoy said. “Aren’t they looking to run right back into the wrath of the people who live here? . . . Where they come off with this stuff is really scary.”

* FULL SCHEDULE: Popejoy plans to stay busy until he leaves office July 31. A43