What's Dean hiding?

Howard Dean, the newly elected head of the DNC, left the Governor's mansion in Vermont in 2003, but not before sealing 86 boxes of documents for 10 years - the longest period of time documents have been sealed by a Vermont Governor.

Why?

Dean told reporters in 2003 that they were sealed because "we [Dean, Sec. of State Deborah Markowitz and Attorney General William Sorrell] didn't want anything embarrassing appearing in the papers at a critical time in any future endeavor."

Hmm. Okay. Anyone else have a problem with that?

A Vermont Judge had recently ordered Dean & Co. to explain - for every single document - why it should be covered under executive privilege and sealed from the public. Tomorrow the Vermont Supreme Court will hear an appeal from the state on why the documents should remain sealed.

Should a Governor be able to seal documents for ten years? For less or more time? For no time at all?

What about the President? Should the media, citizens, and the entire world have complete access to every document in the White House, immediately after a change in administration? I think we can all agree that that's a bad idea (unless you own stock in a paper shredder manufacturer)

But what exactly was going on in Vermont that's so sensitive to warrant a decade-long public ban?