The N&O has a way of getting all activated when things happen in secret . . . like this latest creepy decision move by Powersleaze . . . the NC Lottery Commission.

Lottery officials have decided to keep secret the bids received last week for two multimillion-dollar contracts, until those contracts have been awarded. That is an outrageous and unacceptable repudiation of Sanders' promises.

Making the bids public, officials say, would mean the companies would find out about each others' bids and thus the state's bargaining power would be reduced. But that's a thin excuse (so is the assurance that information will be released once deals are done), and lottery officials should know better. Likewise, they should be embarrassed to be hiding behind legal technicalities, given what's gone on in terms of setting up the lottery.

Read the entire editorial, and send Steve Ford a thank you. (sford@newsobserver.com)

And while you're at it, encourage him to be equally clear and vocal when it comes to little things like, say, the war in Iraq, illegal wiretapping, and corrupt Republican in the House of Representatives.