Report on Washington’s Office of Equity Director: Racial Bias, Avengers, and Instructions From God

Dr. Karen Johnson was let go earlier this month as Washington state’s first director of the Office of Equity following an internal investigation finding she engaged in “inappropriate conduct” with employees that included micromanaging and “inappropriate or insensitive comments” that included ethnic remarks. While Johnson’s last day on the job was May 17, a May 26 investigation report obtained by The Center Square revealed that an internal investigation had been launched in the fall in response to allegations made by employees working in the Office of Financial Management, or OFM, and the Office of Equity, or OOE. The investigation involved interviewing more than a dozen witnesses and 2,649 pages of documentation.