But Curtis made a bit of slip in his talk — he said that by rule he, the majority leader and the minority leader make operational decisions.

And while Curtis certainly talked with Majority Leader Jeff Alexander, R-Provo, in this last decision, House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake, tells me he was never consulted on this matter at all.

Becker says internal House rules are a bit fuzzy, some saying the bipartisan trio makes all decisions concerning House operations, other rules saying the speaker is the presiding officer — the buck stops with him.

It would seem, however, in regards to such a major change in internal House operations, you would call the minority leader. The slight may say more about the relationship between Curtis and Becker than anything else.

Curtis told his caucus that Bleak will help him in a number of areas, stand in for him when he can't make a meeting, and so on. It probably doesn't look good to send an aide to an event you can't make, but to send a chief of staff, well, that's another thing.

Bleak will also help him and his leadership team develop policy, said Curtis. A number of things are moving quickly in the new administration of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., Curtis said, and the Legislature shouldn't just be in a reactive mode to the governor's initiatives but should be developing some of its own, too. "We need to be proactive," Curtis said.

And Curtis, an attorney who is trying to earn a living outside of the Legislature, can't get to it all, he said. "I'm working maybe 15 hours a week" in his new law firm. He only earns an extra $2,500 a year being speaker over a legislator's regular pay. And the law partners are restless, it seems.

Still, placing a partisan person at the head of a supposedly nonpartisan staff is a step in the wrong direction.

Utah's legislative branch is, for the most part, a pretty frugal operation. There are only half a dozen full-time workers in the House and Senate. The other offices, research and general counsel, fiscal analyst and auditor general, are not overstaffed. And all the staff does its work in a mostly bipartisan manner.

Putting a partisan person over the House staff taints its work, either in reality or in perception.

House Democrats never, in my memory, criticized how they were treated by chief clerk Carole Peterson or other staffers.