A human resources spokeswoman declined to say whether her office is conducting an investigation, and neither she nor the Senate Chief Clerk would offer more information about which version of the game was being played.

Mikalsen said the fact page staff are playing games while on the job may suggest there need to be fewer pages on staff.

“If there is literally the need to allow them to play games, then we have too many people on staff,” Mikalsen said.

Staff size

According to the Senate Sergeant at Arms’ website, there are currently six full-time positions on the Senate Sergeant’s staff. Full-time pages are salaried with regular state benefits.

There are about 15 to 20 part-time pages that are generally employed for the duration of the legislative session. Most are recent graduates. Primary responsibilities include responding to requests from senators on the Senate floor during legislative sessions, helping out at committee hearings, running errands for Senate offices and helping out with mailings.

Ted Blazel, the Senate Sergeant at Arms who oversees page staff, said he was aware of the game being played, but didn’t know details of what the game entailed.