Setting the params attribute breaks the pageSizes drop down

Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but if I include any params in the params attribute, the pageSize drop down list fails to fire an action when I click it.
For example:
<util:remotePaginate total="$

"
action="updateContentList"
update="contentList"
pageSizes="[10,20,50,100]"
max="10"
model="$

"
onLoading="showElement('paginateSpinner');"
onComplete="hideElement('paginateSpinner');"
params="$

"
/>
This will cause the list to break, as will any value for params.

When a drop down value is clicked, the corresponding action is never called (in my case 'updateContentList'). If I remove the params tag, everything works fine (except that I have no way to send params back to the controller!)

The paginate buttons do continue to work when using the params parameter; it seems the drop down menu is the only thing affected.