As an employee of the Federal Way Municipal Court, one of the highest priorities of my job is to ensure fairness and impartiality in the handling of cases that are filed. It is therefore troubling to me that that same fairness and impartiality are not being accorded to Judge Michael Morgan, one of the judges of our court.

I am particularly troubled that misconceptions and false assumptions regarding Judge Morgan are appearing in a public forum. Here are some of the facts I perceive that present a more fair and balanced picture of him.

Judge Morgan was presented with allegations that former court employees engaged in sexual misconduct. Judge Morgan investigated the misconduct and this is the context of his discussions that are referenced in his statement to the Commission on Judicial Conduct. It has been reported that Judge Morgan signed a confidentiality agreement involving a former court employee with respect to this matter. This may be the reason why the details of that investigation are not mentioned by the media. As far as Judge Morgan’s admission to the CJC that he discussed firing court clerks, Judge Morgan did give the impression court employees would be fired for engaging in misconduct such as sexual misconduct.

Judge Morgan has, as have I, uttered an occasional profanity in meetings with court managers in private offices. However, I have never heard him utter a profanity amongst court clerks nor used language in such a manner I would consider offensive.

It is true, as reported, that Judge Morgan slammed his door closed. What was not reported is that Judge Morgan’s door would only close if it was slammed, even after requisitions were twice made and public works personnel attempted to get his door to close properly.

As the CJC notes, Judge Morgan inherited a difficult work environment. Faced with frustrating events, he did yell at three people three years ago. His actions were understandable, given the difficulties of the situations he was confronted with at the time. I was aware of these situations and in one of them, the person involved later admitted to me that her conduct contributed to the escalation.

Judge Morgan does hold people accountable and that includes himself. Perhaps he is even harder on himself than he is on others and has taken responsibility for his actions. He has publicly expressed regret for any stress or offense any of his remarks may have caused and took corrective steps as the CJC determined. Nothing Judge Morgan did in any way affected the administration of justice.

I returned to this court at the request of Judge Morgan because of my high regard and respect for him. I encourage anyone who wants to take the time and effort to contact me to obtain a more comprehensive view of Judge Morgan. I also invite anyone to come here to witness the court in action. We have a court that the City of Federal Way can be proud of.

Rae Iwamoto

Court administrator, Federal Way Municipal Court