When Utah's Senate majority launched its blog in 2005, it was cutting-edge stuff for lawmakers.

Over the past two years, the site has added audio and a Web cam to compliment the daily musings of its GOP members. But even as the blog is being copied across the country, administrators were once again looking for that little extra something to set them apart.

This year that something is Michael Castner.

You might recognize Castner as the former voice of KSL's Nightside Project. He was shown the door late last year for "budget" reasons after the show hit No. 1 in its time slot. So he's tending the Senate site while he's waiting for his non-competing agreement to end (he's got a job lined up but he's not saying where.)

He's officially a "communications consultant" and makes it clear that he won't be a spokesman or even offering opinion on the site.

"Obviously I'm not going to be screaming and yelling at senators," Castner said. "What this is really going to be is taking government and putting it in plain English. Half the time the way government talks makes your eyes glaze over."

The idea to recruit Castner came from Senate Chief Deputy Ric Cantrell, who said the "Hey, what if?" idea simply dawned on him one night.

"And nobody smarter was around to tell us any different, so we developed the idea," he said.

While it's not exactly cutting edge anymore, Castner did push for a YouTube clip of Senate President John Valentine working in his office. It was filmed Wednesday.