King County official’s joke backfires

Published 9:00 pm Friday, August 3, 2001

Associated Press

SEATTLE — Some King County Juvenile Court employees are upset over a guide to job evaluations that includes images of Mother Teresa as an example of average and President Bush as "unsatisfactory."

The images were on a page labeled "Performance Now, Quick Visual Reference Guide," a loose insert in the package.

At the top were state Supreme Court Justice Bobbe Bridge, who reorganized county’s juvenile court system while she was its chief judge, labeled "Outstanding," and the comic-book hero Superman, "Exceeds Job Requirements."

Next was Mother Teresa, "Meets Job Requirements," followed by the cartoon character Bart Simpson on a skateboard, "Needs Improvement," and Bush, shown scratching his head next to a picture of a chimpanzee in a similar pose.

"To me, it’s insulting and derogatory," said Orla Poole, a juvenile probation counselor.

Poole, a naturalized U.S. citizen and Irish-born Catholic, wrote in an e-mail to her supervisor, Shawn Brown, that the use of Mother Teresa’s image was "demeaning and belittling," and that the depiction of Bush showed partisan bias.

Brown apologized via e-mail, saying the insert was meant to be humorous "and not to be disrespectful or culturally insensitive to anyone."

"I really don’t think it’s humorous," said Rob Legge, a juvenile probation counselor for 31 years. "What it says to me, literally, is the equivalent of a ‘C’ grade is Mother Teresa — and the double image of Bush and the chimp, that’s very offensive. Regardless of your politics, that just doesn’t belong. It’s just an appalling lack of judgment."

Paul Sherfy, chief administrative officer for the county’s Superior Court system, which includes the juvenile courts, said officials were waiting for the appropriate supervisor to return from vacation before investigating.

"The court sees this as very inappropriate, and we’re going to take the appropriate disciplinary action," Sherfy said.

It was unclear who created the document. The page with the images did not contain any names of county employees, nor was it clear how many received it.

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