Mr. Rolly, of the Salt Lake Tribune, in his recent column accused Ric Cantrell, lead staffer for Pres. Valentine, of blogging on the Senate Site (Unofficial Voice of the Utah State Senate Majority) on the taxpayer’s dime.  It’s clear Paul doesn’t hang around the back hallways of the Senate when Ric is working late into the evenings, long after nearly all other staffers have eaten dinner with their families and are sitting in front of the TV watching who knows what.

What Ric does for “off-hour” state citizen relations and communications costs the taxpayers nothing.  The fact is, if we were to pay Ric what he’s really worth, accounting for all the uncompensated hours he works for the State Senate, we couldn’t afford him.  I’ve passed down the hallways late at night and have seen Ric dilligently at work.  I’ve recieved both official and “unofficial” correspondence from Ric at all hours of the evening.

The problem is not Ric, Mr. Rolly, it’s that we can’t find more people to work in our state government just like him.