Brian Feulner/The Oregonian

The Oregonian reported Tuesday that the regional government Metro has hired a former reporter for the Hillsboro Argus (a sister publication to the Oregonian owned by Advance Publications) to cover the agency’s activities. At first glance, this did not appear unusual, since most governmental agencies employ or assign one or more employees to the job of public information officer or PIO. Often these PIO’s are themselves former reporters who understand the business and can rely on their previous contacts. But in this case, the reporter was hired not as a PIO but as a reporter who would provide “quicker, independent, newspaper-style reporting of Metro’s activities.”

The reporter is Nick Christensen whose idea of “independent, newspaper-style” journalism apparently includes penning anti-Tea Party screeds for the left wing blog site Blue Oregon. For the unfamiliar, Blue Oregon is the state’s blog-of-record for left wing politics. Like most blog sites, it allows viewers to post comments and to its credit, Blue Oregon requires a log in and effectively bars anonymous posts that tend to pollute most web forums.

True to its progressive roots, Blue Oregon tolerates conservative posters long enough to exhaust the collective liberal lexicon of invective vituperation. Conservatives brave or stupid enough to venture into that liberal but shallow diversity pool will soon find their ankles slashed by tiny blue terrors that are individually weak but collectively vicious. There’s something about seeing red in the water that sets off a feeding frenzy in those who swim in the Blue Oregon fish bowl.

When liberals crudely attempted to pin the tragic Tucson shootings on conservatives in general and Tea Party activists in particular, every wannabe leftist pundit tripped over their Birkenstocks in a mad dash to see who could best vilify the Tea Party and conservative speakers. Among those at Blue Oregon doing their level best to ‘Pin the Shooting on the Elephant’ was none other than Nick Christensen, who was only identified as a former reporter for the Hillsboro Argus and not as a hired shill for Metro.

Christensen’s piece was entitled, “Own It, Tea Party” and contained all the elements we had come to expect from the frothing left wing blogosphere. Christensen’s article can be best summarized with its parting shot:

“…Tea Party, [alleged shooter] Loughner did what you’ve been calling for all along – he went back to America’s colonial roots, he locked and loaded his Second Amendment remedies and he murdered six people in his attempt to assassinate a seventh.

Own it.

You can’t in one breath say there’s a time and a place for warfare, and in another breath disown it every time it happens. Take it one way or the other, Tea Party. Either admit you’re moral relativists that only accept revolution when it’s for a cause you support, or admit you’re simply taking advantage of a brutish rhetoric because it raises the cash and helps your candidates get elected.”

Of course, Christensen is entitled to his opinion and is free to express it in any lawful manner he chooses. He would no doubt deny he wrote his hit piece on behalf of Metro or as its agent or employee. There’s no apparent indication Christensen used public funds or resources to craft his Blue Oregon article. Christensen and the Blue Oregon editors will protest that his article was his own opinion and does not necessarily reflect that of Metro (hint: next time say so in a disclaimer).

But that misses the point.

For someone who professes to be an “independent, newspaper-style” journalist, Christensen’s published diatribe against the Tea Party reveals a valuable insight into the kind of reporting the public can expect from him when conservatives dare to challenge a Metro policy or proposal.

So conservatives beware. If you dare to speak out against a Metro policy or proposal and heaven forbid you are tagged as a “tea bagger,” be prepared to have your ankles bitten by Metro’s hired mouthpiece.