Hunt finds the last legal argument foolish. And he advised that I could always appeal the legislative attorneys' declining of my GRAMA request on phone records.

But who would I, or anyone else, appeal to?

The story gets even better — because under the GRAMA law passed by the Legislature, you appeal to ... yep, you guessed it ... the Legislature.

Since the Legislature is a separate branch of government, you do not go through the executive branch's GRAMA appeals process — which at least gets you to a records committee that has some citizens on it (even a member of the media) and is an arm's length away from the state bureaucrats who originally declined your request.

Here is the appeals process in the Legislature: Legislative staff attorney denies your request for information. You appeal to the boss of the person who denied your request. Denied again? You appeal to a committee of four legislative leaders — Senate president, House speaker and the minority leaders of both bodies. Denied again? You can go to district court.

But then anyone can sue in district court, anyway. It is costly and very time-consuming.

So should I use my time asking legislative bosses to overturn their staff attorney's decision not to give me the legislative bosses' telephone bills? Gee, a tough call there.

Ultimately, the staff members hired by the legislative bosses and the legislative bosses themselves are judge, jury and executioner on legislative GRAMA requests.

Sounds like a dictatorship, doesn't it?

Naw. It's just the Utah Legislature. Like I said, you gotta love these guys.

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Deseret News political editor Bob Bernick Jr. may be reached by e-mail at bbjr@desnews.com