Now, the state senator, Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, can't on his own order such an audit. Only the four members of the Audit Subcommittee can.

And there may be some valid reasons for such an audit — as Urquhart charges.

But such an audit stinks of internal politics — and, once again, legislative staff used for political reasons.

I suppose that anyone with some insider knowledge of the Legislature could look at recent audits (found at le.state.ut.us/audit/ad_alldl.htm) and say some of them, maybe many of them, have some political aspects — GOP leaders not liking the State Board of Education's anti-voucher stands, for example, and so auditing various aspects of public education.

However, this trend of using staff offices for partisan or personal political reasons must be curtailed.

And ultimately, the only people who can do that are the leaders of the House and Senate, both political parties.

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