The trouble is that Huntsman and his economic advisers wanted to keep mum about how many millions of public dollars might be pledged to anonymous companies to locate or expand in Utah, and asked the attorney general's office if they could do it legally.

Huntsman's top economic adviser, Chris Roybal, said that the idea grew out of a timing issue, that companies being courted by the governor's economic development team don't want the relocation deals they are negotiating with state governments to be leaked before they finally sign on for a place to pitch their tents.

All would become known later, he explained, but only if a deal were actually struck would the public be told the name of the company and, finally, just how much the state Board of Business and Economic Development had promised to fork over from the aptly named Industrial Assistance Fund.

At that point, of course, it wouldn't matter in the light of day if the deals sounded great or seemed like overly generous corporate welfare. Those deals would be done deals and nothing anyone had to say about it would matter.

In trying to make the case for the policy change earlier this week, Roybal said the 15-member economic development board could be trusted to make sound decisions behind closed doors and that this private rendering of the public's business actually - we're not sure how - would strike a fair balance between public disclosure and Utah's need to cater to corporate sensibilities in order to compete with other states.

We strongly disagreed and are saying why in this space today, even though Roybal reported Friday that the governor had, "upon further review," decided not to deliver this slap in the face of open government.

Huntsman was elected on the promise that he would make revitalizing Utah's economic base his top priority. He rightly judges this undertaking essential to the prosperity of a state where large families place extraordinary demands on the public purse.

And to Huntsman's credit in this instance, he is dropping the corporate model of secrecy he had sought in favor of the greater transparency model that is the wellspring of good and accountable governance.