I'm "under investigation," and I think it's a real hoot.

Working as an editor or reporter in places like Denver, Seattle, San Diego and Albany, N.Y., I've investigated plenty of people - folks like a police commissioner who dipped into the city till, a pension fund manager who stole millions from widows and orphans and a politician who claimed to have been Rambo in Vietnam when he was really frying eggs at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

But no one, far as I know, ever responded by investigating me.

Twice I've been reliably informed that folks involved in the project to redevelop four blocks of downtown Twin Falls are "checking me out," apparently to see if there are any skeletons in my closet. The group is upset with me, and others at the Times-News, because we've been asking tough questions about the way the downtown deal is structured.

We think the public has an interest in knowing that city officials and influential people plan to spend millions of tax dollars on a project that could directly benefit developers who have been hired by the city to advise it on whether their own project is a good idea. We're also curious about financial arrangements that result in members of the Urban Renewal Agency board benefiting from URA property deals.

And call us dreamers, but we have a notion that you should know now, not after the deal is sealed, that a new City Hall is planned as part of the development.

What we have here is a fundamental difference of opinion.

We - and by that I mean everyone from Publisher Brad Hurd all the way down to the summer intern - consider watchdog journalism a sacred responsibility of this and every newspaper. That's what the founders of our great nation had in mind when they created a democracy that allows unprecedented freedom of the press in questioning government activities.

Those at the forefront of the downtown development see it another way. They choose to dismiss questions raised in the public's interest as an effort to kill downtown driven by some undefined secret agenda and personal bias.

I had a good laugh when I heard one of the developers was looking into my shady past to try to divine my secret agenda and hidden motives.

Now maybe I haven't lived a perfect life and maybe there are things I'd rather not discuss with my mother, who has lived a more sheltered life on the farm out Hazelton way.

But I don't have much to hide, either, so I e-mailed him my resume. You can read it along with this column in the Opinion section of our Web site, magicvalley.com.

I don't know how serious these people are in their effort to find out more about me, and I really don't care. When you ask tough questions, you need to be ready for a tough response. Harry Truman said it best: If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

I've always been quite comfortable in hot kitchens.

But seriously, folks, I'm not the story here. Nor are the personal histories of the publisher I work for or those of the journalists who work for me.

Others in the long history of this newspaper may have abused your trust by using these pages to settle personal scores or advance their own interests. If so, that's ancient history.

Today we serve it up hot and straight. And you can be sure that we have only your interests at heart and are motivated only by a belief that open government and citizen participation in democracy are worth fighting for.

I think Mom would be OK with that.

Editor James G. Wright may be reached at 208-735-3255 or james.wright@lee.net.