Another politically embarrassing story is developing in Harrisburg. This time, it involves the state's student-loan agency (PHEAA), and how it spends money.

Last month, various news organizations revealed that top PHEAA officials had spent about $885,000 since 2000 attending retreats in Napa Valley and other locations. Most recently, the PHEAA board spent $136,000 for a little get-away at the Nemacolin Woodlands luxury resort in Pennsylvania.

Following those revelations, several news organization filed requests under the state's Right-to-Know Law to get more details of PHEAA spending. In response, the student loan agency has filed a lawsuit against the reporters seeking the spending records, claiming such records are protected from public exposure and also contain "trade secrets."

Baloney.

It's hard to see the lawsuit as anything other than an attempt to avoid further embarrassment or political fallout from further revelations of PHEAA spending practices.

With about $57 billion in assets under management, the PHEAA will also receive about $428 million in state tax revenue to offer grants and other financial assistance to college students.

No doubt, the PHEAA does much good in providing over $100 million a year in financial aid to help more Pennsylvania students attend college. The PHEAA web site features photographs of smiling college-age students and notes "we use our earnings to provide the best possible programs and services to the higher education community while providing affordable access to education to students and families."

The PHEAA document does not mention using investment earnings to also send board members to luxury resorts or on wine-tasting tours in California's Napa Valley.

Granted, the $885,000 reportedly spent by PHEAA on board trips since 2000 is a small amount compared with the $100 million in student aid, it still doesn't look good. Most people would expect that every available dollar would go to benefit students - not board members.

So, it's more a matter of principle than the actual dollars involved. But most Pennsylvanians are probably asking themselves why the 20 PHEAA board members, which include 16 members of the General Assembly, must take such expensive trips to resorts. Why not hold meetings at PHEAA offices or some other low-cost facility in order to save money for making more loans to more students?

With the PHEAA lawsuit attempting to block the release of more of the agency's spending, it appears the board might have something to hide. Few citizens will buy the argument that just because lawmakers serve on the board that the board's spending records are "legislative documents" and therefore exempt from the Right-to-Know Law. It's equally hard to believe that such documents constitute "trade secrets" as the lawsuit against the three reporters claims, despite the fact that the PHEAA operates in a competitive environment.

The executive editor of the Harrisburg newspaper targeted by the PHEAA lawsuit calls it "sheer intimidation" and vows it will not succeed. The news director of the Pittsburgh television station where one of the three reporters targeted by the PHEAA suits works said the "PHEAA is throwing public funds down the drain by covering their spending practices and fighting this request in court."

The lawsuit to keep PHEAA spending practices only further fuels speculation of more questionable expenses. Already, the PHEAA raised a few eyebrows by awarding lump-sum bonuses of more than $100,000 each to seven top executives in July.

Spending money that could benefit students to instead treat PHEAA board members to stays at luxury resorts is wrong and runs counter to the agency's mission. And the PHEAA only compounds it error by suing reporters and using bogus legal arguments to keep other expense records secret. The agency's lawsuit will only increase public pressure to shine light on its spending practices, which now appear even more suspect.