Long-running feuds and tension in the Utah House of Representatives have erupted recently in name-calling, ethical charges and countercharges, and claims of retribution and character assassination.

"It just seems that there's been, of late, a new school in the Statehouse that's aggressive, kind of bullyish, and that's come at the expense of the decorum you would expect in a century-plus-old legislative body," said one legislative lobbyist, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid offending lawmakers.

House Speaker Greg Curtis acknowledges the tone has been polarizing.

"Some people thrive on divisiveness," he said. "Sometimes people like to kick the cow pie just to see what the stench is, and I think it's just different approaches that different people take."

In recent days, the dueling sides have been in discussions, with Rep. Kevin Garn, of Layton, trying to negotiate a detente before it turns into an all-out shooting war.

"There are discussions about discussions, with the emphasis that I'm really trying to stress the importance of looking at ethics," said Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, an outspoken member of the moderate faction of the House. She says systemic changes are needed in how the Legislature deals with ethics complaints.

In the meantime, Allen said, she hopes the rival groups can maintain some degree of comity. "We're going to make an effort," she said.

It puts the House at a sort of Cold War crossroads - an uneasy stare-down where both sides have an itchy trigger finger and ammunition to blow the House sky-high.

"There's a philosophical rift" between those in power and those who are not, said Rep. Steve Urquhart, chairman of the Rules Committee and a reliable conservative. "They're wanting to reshuffle the deck at any cost."

The fireworks won't benefit Curtis, who won his last election by 20 votes and is again endangered in this election. Three conservatives have been knocked off in Republican Party contests by more moderate opponents, and several more Republican seats are threatened by Democratic opponents.

Continued dissension in the ranks could become a factor in those races and significantly change the leadership and the makeup of next year's Legislature.

Peace in the House Republican Caucus has always been uneasy, with the group's conservative orthodoxy generally viewing their moderate colleagues with a suspicious eye.

The tension beneath the surface has bubbled up more often recently. Last year, the moderate Republicans joined a lawsuit challenging a private-school voucher law. Voters later resoundingly rejected vouchers in a referendum.

This year, the same group complained of legislative leadership's hardball tactics passing a sweeping education spending bill and filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the measure.

David Irvine, a former Army general and state lawmaker, filed a brief opposing the voucher law and helped write both the omnibus education lawsuit and a recent ethics complaint against a conservative member.

"By far, there are more fractures now than ever before," said former Rep. David Ure, who spent 14 years in the House. "We are not allowing other legislators to make their mind up concerning certain topics as to what their constituents need or don't need. We're trying to force these issues through based on the power of the Legislature."

But simmering animosity erupted last month, when Allen and Rep. Steve Mascaro joined three Democrats to request the first ethics investigation in a decade, against Rep. Mark Walker, a conservative who was running for state treasurer with the backing of legislative leaders, alleging he tried to negotiate a bribe with his opponent.

Walker resigned his House seat on the eve of the Ethics Committee's first meeting and the panel dismissed the complaint. Irvine says Walker took the fall to protect another lawmaker involved in the bribery scheme and says another ethics complaint is possible.

Urquhart lashed back, calling the Republican turncoats a "cancer" on the Legislature, unable to work with their colleagues and willing to "use any way possible, legitimate or not, to gain relevance."

But moderate members have troubles of their own. This month, The Tribune obtained documents alleging that Mascaro sexually harassed an intern last legislative session. Mascaro said the young woman initiated the incident and accused conservative members of a malicious leak to retaliate against him.

Rep. Greg Hughes, head of the House Conservative Caucus, has said an investigation of Mascaro may be needed, but none has been filed.

The whole episode has left some conservative Republican members gripped by a sort of paranoia, afraid that Irvine and his cadre of moderates have put private investigators on their tail, looking for dirt, with Curtis, Hughes and Urquhart at the top of the hit list and more ethics allegations in the wings.

Irvine scoffs at the notion, saying it is not true that he has hired an investigator or that he is out to get any lawmaker.

So, for the time being, the uneasy peace holds.