Despite the pay cut, Nixon said, he couldn't turn down an opportunity to work closely with Huntsman. "We love what we do. We love working for the state," he said. "And I think we're doing good things."

State government is Utah's biggest corporation and should be staffed accordingly, Herring said. "It's a business we've got to run, and we've got to have the best and the brightest," he said.

And the state needs to pay those people at least enough to keep up with inflation, Herring said. "These executive directors would say they're not in this for the money," he said. "You don't ever go into state government to get rich."

Still, a $100,000 a year salary puts a state executive in the top 9 percent of wage-earners in Utah, the Utah Tax Commission says, and the state has one of the best medical and retirement programs around.

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