Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday made a serious misstep when he announced that the final report on the behavior of Lt. Gov. Mike Stack and his wife, Tonya, would not be made public.

Months after it first came to light that Stack and his wife were mistreating staff at their taxpayer-funded residence, an investigation into their conduct has ended with a whimper, and yet another secret report.

Wolf on Tuesday said he believes his administration went far enough by stripping the Stacks of their state police security details and scaling back staffing at the Lieutenant Governor’s mansion.

“I don’t think anything’s to be served by piling on top of that,” Wolf said. “I don’t see any reason to go any further than I did.”

Wolf also said that Tonya Stack’s mental health (she entered an in-patient treatment facility last spring) was a factor in his decision.

Mike Stack issued his own public statement on Tuesday, thanking Wolf for “the support ... as we address this private family health issue.”

The governor’s concern for Mrs. Stack is laudable. But the idea that this is a private matter — or that voters and taxpayers would not benefit from specific information about the Stacks’ behavior while living on the public’s dime — is ridiculous.

Stack, who has also come under heavy scrutiny for his spending habits while in office, rendered that argument ineffective last month, the very moment he announced his re-election bid.

Now the public has a clear, vested interest in knowing exactly what the Stacks said and did while Mr. Stack served as Pennsylvania’s second-ranking elected official.

Stack took “public responsibility” — whatever that means — for his actions in April, but he has refused to describe the conduct that prompted Wolf to order Inspector General Bruce Beemer to conduct an internal investigation and compile this report. Stack also refused to testify before a House committee, during a hearing over his spending habits.

How exactly can voters make an informed decision about whether or not Mr. Stack deserves their vote without having all the information about his conduct while in office?

Mike and Tonya Stack are public figures accused of misusing their authority and verbally abusing the people taxpayers pay to protect them and run their household during Stack’s term in office. That alone should be enough to prompt the report’s release to the public.

Under these circumstances, the onus is not on Gov. Wolf or the public to protect or honor Mrs. Stack’s privacy. Nor should her privacy be an overriding concern in any decision about the report’s disposition.

Mr. Stack has been given every opportunity to detail, in his own words, the conduct that prompted this investigation. Instead, he has chosen to obfuscate and to use his wife’s apparent mental health issues as a shield.

Unless Wolf reverses course and makes Beemer’s report public, no one will remember that — until now — he seemed to be handling this matter with a firm and fair hand.

All they will remember is that Wolf ultimately chose to protect a pair powerful, misbehaving people for no good reason.