EDITORIAL BUREAUCRATIC MIND-SET SO WHAT IF THE COUNTY EMPLOYS CONVICTS TO TAKE CARE OF KIDS?

LOS Angeles County Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen wants those of us who pay his salary to be grateful for small favors.

Even though he proposes letting 11 of the 12 employees at MacLaren Children's Center who have criminal records return to work, he wants to let us know that it's not as bad as it looks.

``I don't want to leave the impression that any of these 12 are child molesters or sex offenders,'' he told the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. ``There are none among those 12.''

That single statement epitomizes all that's wrong with bureaucratic thinking, even in a bureaucrat like Janssen, who generally is credited with doing a good job.

Among the crimes committed by MacLaren's dirty dozen are such offenses as bookmaking, drunk driving, burglary and cocaine possession.

In other words, the crew that Janssen proposes allowing to oversee troubled and abused children at the El Monte facility are hardly role models.

It's true that people can change. A past conviction shouldn't bar someone from ever again holding gainful employment, or even gainless employment, i.e. a job with the county of Los Angeles.

But it's also true that when it comes to hiring people who will work with children, especially the needy and vulnerable sort of children who come to MacLaren, the county should take extra care.

And clearly, in the case of the dirty dozen, it wasn't.

The only reason why the records of the dirty dozen were brought to light is because the state ordered background checks because of the long list of problems at MacLaren. For its part, the county had never bothered to administer the checks at all because its rules are ambiguous as to whether checks are permissible.

So rather than err on the side of protecting MacLaren's kids, the county erred on the side of protecting the privacy of its bureaucrats.

We can only wonder how many other of the county's 85,000 or so employees have rap sheets that their supervisors don't know about. We can only wonder how many work with children, tend to the sick, handle money or hold other jobs that require honesty and respect for the law.

Now that the issue has blown up and created a stink, the county counsel has belatedly given the green light to start performing the background checks with regularity.

We suppose that's another small favor deserving our gratitude.

Janssen argues that 11 of the 12 MacLaren employees with criminal records belong on the job because their cases are ``exemptible,'' meaning that the crimes don't disqualify the workers from county employment, even working with kids.

The supervisors found that explanation wanting, and unanimously rejected it.

But whether the dirty dozen returns to MacLaren or not, it's worth asking how the county ever could have deemed their crimes acceptable if it never bothered to find out about them.

Janssen's bureaucratic rationalization does very little to diminish the extent of the county's failures. Any responsible employer would want to know - and in fact, needs to know - what special dangers or risks a worker may pose.

But the county of Los Angeles obviously isn't a responsible employer - or a responsible caregiver for the kids trapped in MacLaren.