Dr. Mike Munger, Libertarian candidate for governor, won't disclose the personal financial information requested by The News & Observer and the Charlotte Observer, unless he's allowed to participate in the gubernatorial debates.

The McClatchy newspapers have called for all three governor candidates, including recent tax returns.

“I categorically refuse to participate in this farce, unless I'm allowed to participate in the debates,” the Duke professor said. He said he doesn't object to the request itself because both newspapers have covered all three campaigns fairly.

“They believe the voters of North Carolina -- and not some elite group representing the wealthy and the politically powerful -- should decide," he said.

"What I object to is the intrusive scrutiny of financial disclosure when I'm not to receive the benefit of simple fairness. The fact that McCrory and Perdue have excluded me from even one of the debates is an outrage,” he said.

“My opponents have refused to ask I be invited to even one debate,” he noted. “I find it ironic that I'm being asked to disclose anything, when it's my Sphinx-like opponents who refuse to open their mouths and say, 'We should include every candidate who qualified under state law.' "

Munger has pledged to prepare the financial disclosure packet, believing in good faith that either the sponsors of at least one debate, or the candidates themselves, will awaken to a sense of their obligations in a democratic society.

“I intend to sit by the phone, waiting for their call,” he quipped.

The newspapers are requesting “copies of individual tax returns for the last five calendar years, 2003-07, for the candidate and his or her spouse, if filing separately.”

They are also asking for “Records that would give the public a full and accurate understanding of each candidate's personal health. These records would include the results of the most recent physical examination, as well as details of prescription medications currently taken and any medical treatments that are ongoing. They might also include letters from physicians or records of major health events.”