I’m not sure, though, whether any are a match for the trend of publicly elected officials who believe that they don’t have to answer questions about the public’s business.

Look around. It’s everywhere.

Back in November, I confronted Gov. Mike Easley’s office about his removal of two members of the state Board of Community Colleges, a move apparently intended to boost his choice for the job of community colleges president. The response: “Their terms expired ... we had to make other appointments.” No further comment.

More recently, The News & Observer of Raleigh got much the same reply when seeking comment from Easley and Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue about how some members of the state Board of Transportation have been able to sidestep requirements that they disclose campaign-fundraising activities. Perdue sponsored legislation creating the too-loose requirements, and Easley sought and received an opinion of the 1998 law from the office of Attorney General Roy Cooper that assured wiggle room.

A Perdue campaign spokesman offered a statement that didn’t amount to much. What quotes the newspaper had from Easley came from a sit-down with reporters back in December.

Maybe Easley should be given credit for holding that annual freewheeling session with reporters. But once upon a time, governors and presidents held weekly or periodic news conferences to answer questions of the day.

They didn’t hold these question-and-answer sessions to satisfy pushy reporters. They did so because they understood that their offices came with an ethical mandate to communicate with the people who elected them, communication that should be open and not some spin sent via written statement or broadcast over the Internet.

Today, government press offices and the people who work in them — paid with tax dollars — aren’t there to openly communicate with the public and explain the positions of their bosses. Their job is to hide, obscure, distort, stall or just plain obstruct. In news conferences called to tout some great accomplishment by their bosses, they try to limit questions to only that topic. Frustration with this closing of government isn’t coming from only reporters. The State Employees Association of North Carolina recently sued the office of State Treasurer Richard Moore because it believed he wasn’t complying with requests to hand over documents regarding pension-fund investments. If Moore applied the same standards of transparency to his office that he loves to prattle on about regarding publicly traded companies, the employees group wouldn’t need to even ask for the information.

Perhaps newspapers and TV stations should be blamed. Maybe they just need to be meaner. Instead of the rote, “So-and-so declined comment,” how about, “So-and-so continued to hide behind walls of secrecy built with taxpayer dollars?” Sure, that line might interject a little editorializing into the story, but it sure would be fun to see So-and-so’s face after it appeared in print.