NYC Police Spied On Oregon Anti-Bush Activists

The story from today’s New York Times starts out bad:

For at least a year before the 2004 Republican National Convention, teams of undercover New York City police officers traveled to cities across the country, Canada and Europe to conduct covert observations of people who planned to protest at the convention, according to police records and interviews.

As you’re reading along, you start to think about some of the pockets of anti-Bush sentiment, say, places that have been called “Little Beirut” by the Bushies since the days of George H.W, and sure enough, there it is in the eleventh paragraph:

Police records indicate that in addition to sharing information with other police departments, New York undercover officers were active themselves in at least 15 places outside New York — including California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montreal, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, D.C. — and in Europe.

Assuming that the NYC cops weren’t sussing out the administration’s detractors in Pendleton or Medford, it’s natural to wonder if they were “active” in Portland. And then to question whether this intelligence work was done with the knowledge and assistance of the Portland Police Bureau and then-Mayor Vera Katz.

UPDATE: b!x noticed this in the early edition on Saturday.