Woodrow Wilson is my current favorite former president, and here's why:

"I, for one, have the conviction that government ought to be all outside and no inside," he wrote in his 1913 book "The New Freedom."

"The very fact that so much in politics is done in the dark, behind closed doors, promotes suspicion. Everybody knows that corruption thrives in secret places, and avoids public places, and we believe it a fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety."

Wilson's chapter, "Let There Be Light," was part of a broader argument for a healthy democracy. His writing inspires me in helping fight for citizen access to government in North Carolina.

Like Wilson, I believe that "publicity is one of the purifying elements of politics."

That's why The N&O helped found the N.C. Open Government Coalition a few years ago and why I'm enthusiastic about the coalition's future in its new home at Elon University.

We need more attention paid in our state to decisions made in secret involving public agencies and money. Case in point: The Google deal.

To recap, Google recently won tax incentives worth up to $260 million over 30 years in exchange for building a 200-job computer center in western North Carolina. State and local officials negotiated the deal behind closed doors under exemptions to the North Carolina Open Meetings Law.

The N&O's Jonathan B. Cox obtained public records as soon as they were available and told people what Google sought and gained and how the incentives stacked up.

Some North Carolinians think the Google incentives were necessary and agree with negotiating the deal secretly. Others find either the incentives or the private negotiations outrageous.

On the smaller end of the scale, ordinary people often get turned down when they try to get information out of local or state offices. Their only options, if their appeals are ignored, are suing in court or seeking publicity about the infraction.

So where do North Carolinians go for help when they're denied access? Where do you find the debate over secrecy and the public interest? The N.C. Open Government Coalition will take on those questions. We're an alliance of organizations representing lawyers, journalists, educators, nonprofit groups, government, librarians and other interests.

Active for three years, the coalition will use its Web site, member alliances and new base at Elon to expand its role in providing information and education.

On March 15, the coalition's new Sunshine Center at Elon hosts a conference focused on the state of open government in North Carolina. Elon will release results of a public opinion poll about open government, and we'll highlight results of a statewide public records audit by citizens and journalists, coordinated by several of the coalition's member groups.

Check ncopengov.org or call (336) 278-5506 for details.