Of all the models political staffers would follow, you'd think Ezra Levant would be pretty low down the list.

Now settled into a much better fit as publisher of the Western Standard magazine, Mr. Levant was a disaster in his brief stint as communications director for Stockwell Day. And while there were plenty of reasons for that, the biggest was the degree to which he made himself the story.

Remember all the interviews and profiles, with the self-described "Stockaholic" delightedly basking in the spotlight? The constant attempts to publicly settle his own scores through the media? The unwillingness to settle into the background and let his boss - who, for all his flaws, was still a more appealing face for the party - take centre stage?

In his defence, Ezra's job required him to talk to the media; he just went about it the wrong way. Which is more than can be said for Tim Murphy.

Mr. Murphy's name has been in the papers a lot lately, mostly because of the peculiar - and still unresolved - Gurmant Grewal saga. But at least that hasn't been of his own choosing. What's more bizarre is the way that, in a fashion all too characteristic of Paul Martin's staffers, the Prime Minister's chief of staff has put his boss' interests second by stepping into the spotlight.

In last Saturday's Toronto Star, Susan Delacourt's account of the Liberals' celebrations following their near-death non-confidence experience painted an overall picture of a party that still hadn't learned the lesson in humility it's so desperately in need of. But particularly grotesque was the image of Mr. Murphy dancing atop a set of speakers with Belinda Stronach - to the tune of Material Girl, no less, quite possibly the last song in the world that Ms. Stronach or anybody around her should have been rump-shaking to last week.

For very good reasons, this is not how senior, experienced political staffers - let alone the most powerful man in the Prime Minister's Office - are supposed to act. Most would have gone home to do their celebrating, or retired to a quiet corner of a bar to raise a glass with a few colleagues. But clearly, Mr. Murphy wanted everyone to know just who was behind the deal with Ms. Stronach that helped keep the government alive - as evidenced by another story in the Star the day after Ms. Delacourt's ran.

Running under the headline "The Man Who (Really) Saved the Government," Graham Fraser's profile of Mr. Murphy was weirdly effusive - lauding his "earnest idealism," and downplaying the Grewal mess on the basis that "nobody who has been surreptitiously taped emerges from the experience looking good." But what made the piece particularly strange was that Mr. Murphy went on the record for it.

At one point, he's described raising his voice and banging his finger on the table as he rails against criticism of the Liberals' recent political manoeuvring. At another, he "impatiently" and "contemptuously" attacks civil servants. And in a lengthy outline of his political history, Mr. Fraser reports that Mr. Murphy supported Mr. Martin's 1990 leadership bid because he was "somewhat disillusioned with Pierre Trudeau's vision of federalism and the economy."

Are showing contempt for the Liberals' critics, dismissing civil servants' complaints and taking issue with Trudeau federalism all consistent with the message the PM wants to convey? Who knows. But whatever the case, why on earth would a chief of staff - or any other aide - publicly speak out on such controversial subjects?

Whatever his other flaws, Jean Pelletier was almost never seen in public when he was running Jean Chrétien's office. Don Guy, Dalton McGuinty's chief of staff and quite possibly the most powerful person in Ontario, doesn't just neglect to seek out the spotlight - he actively avoids it. Like most other backroom titans, at least in this country, they've known better than to cloud their bosses' public images by competing with them for attention.

Whether or not Mr. Murphy is preparing himself for a run for public office (as Mr. Fraser suggests in his article based on conversations with other sources), he's behaving rather selfishly. Unfortunately, it's conduct that's consistent with some other members of Mr. Martin's inner circle - notably David Herle, the longtime advisor and campaign co-chair, whose brash statements and combative public demeanour caused the Liberals considerable headaches before he toned it down.

Mr. Murphy would do well to likewise rein himself in. If he's really a Paulaholic, as Ezra Levant might say, he should have the self-discipline to let his boss have the spotlight.