Utah Senate leaders smacked Deseret News political editor Bob Bernick (who doubles as a weekly political opinion writer) around today. Read about it here.

A recent article by Bernick, left, and Lee Davidson, "One in four bills poses a conflict," examined lawmakers sponsoring bills related to their professions, annoyed Majority Leader Curt Bramble and Minority Leader Mike Dmitrich enough to pen a response.

Mr. Bernick were a cub reporter, we would be more tolerant of his mistakes....This is not the first time he has reported his opinion as fact. He knows better. Or he should know better. ...

Apparently, Senate President John Valentine is especially honked off at a DNews' chart that indicates he sponsored eight bills, half of which Bernick and Davidson, right, see as "apparent conflicts."

"The problem with Mr. Bernick's claims is that all but one of President Valentine's bills are "boxcars," i.e. place holders to be used in the event a bill is needed later in the session," Bramble and Dmetrich write. "The bills, which create "apparent conflicts," are actually blank. The bills are literately blank pages! It is difficult to understand how Mr. Bernick could think that a blank bill creates a conflict of interest."

This is not the first critique of the article. Read Tribune reporter Robert Gehrke's concerns that such stories give lawmakers cover from investigations of serious economic conflicts.