Didn't EnergySolutions chief Steve Creamer ever watch The Sopranos or rent Goodfellas? A businessman dutifully pays the mob its protection money*, then he invites the boys into a sweet deal. And the next thing he knows — he's on the outside, watching them torch his restaurant.

When we last tuned in — thanks to reporting in the Tribune — EnergySolutions was cutting a backroom deal with Republican legislators. If the lawmakers would allow the nuke waste-dumping giant to import foreign radioactive trash to its dump near Tooele, EnergySolutions would split the profits — about $3 billion over he next decade. Turn Utah into a glow-in-the-dark New Joisey. See?

EnergySolutions even launched a television ad campaign to make it all pretty.

Then, lawmakers got a better idea. Talking out of the sides of their mouths, they says to themselves: Why hold up our end of the deal? Why not write a bill that would require the company to give the state a share of any foreign-waste revenues, even if EnergySolutions wins its pending lawsuit on the issue?

In words that Tony Soprano couldn't have uttered with a straight face, Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack says:

In terms of [EnergySolutions'] proposal — they have a proposal, but that isn't our proposal.

*A half a million in campaign contributions.