You have to admire a person with the grace to admit he was wrong -- especially when the person in question is governor of South Carolina. In declaring that openness is a greater good than operating his administration out of public view, Gov. Mark Sanford opened his second Cabinet meeting.

Abandoned are the legalisms that he and his staff used last month to justify holding the first Sanford Cabinet meeting behind closed doors. Gone, as well, is Sanford's initial view that open meetings would stymie Cabinet discussions on resolving state problems and dealing with the horrendous state budget shortfall.

This view is easy to understand. Fear that observers could misinterpret the words uttered during such discussions does have the capacity to stymie public servants from developing good ideas. But seasoned public officials who operate in the open soon come to understand that this fear often is unreasonable.

More important, they come to understand that operating in the open makes building public trust much easier.

Sanford deserves great credit for recognizing the benefits of open administration early on in his term. The trust he will reap in return will validate his decision in short order.