Like a phoenix, Cook rises to run again

Pignanelli: Whether you love him or laugh at him, for over 20 years former congressman Merrill Cook has made Utah politics more than interesting. Each of his numerous bids for a variety of offices has uniquely impacted each contest. In 1985, his half million dollar candidacy for Salt Lake City mayor against Palmer DePaulis propelled the campaign for this office into the major leagues (where it has been ever since). With an in-your-face attitude, he scored well as an Independent candidate in the 1988 and 1992 gubernatorial elections (placing second behind Leavitt in '92). As the GOP nominee for the 2nd Congressional District he bested Rocky Anderson in 1996 and was re-elected in 1998, but lost the party nod in 2000 and 2002.

In 2004 Cook has donned the Independent banner again for Salt Lake County mayor against Republican incumbent Nancy Workman. Well financed and heartily supported by most local officials, Workman normally would have little trouble with re-election this year. However, she needs only to walk out of her office and peer at the clerk's office at the Salt Lake County complex to be reminded what havoc the 'Independent-Cook' factor can impose on incumbents.

In March 1990, Democratic Party officials were frantically coaxing friends, relatives and other humans with a pulse to enlist as candidates so every position was contested. In the remaining days of the filing period, the bright, attractive vice chairwoman of the state Democratic Party, D'Arcy Dixon Pignanelli, secured information that Merrill Cook and his Independent party cronies were targeting Salt Lake County Clerk H. Dixon Hindley and would focus resources to benefit their candidate — Betty Christensen. Knowing this aggressive Independent intrusion could swing the election to a Democrat, Dixon-Pignanelli was ready to run. But her wimpy husband, nervous about his tough re-election campaign to the Legislature, forced a detour of her interests. Instead Dixon-Pignanelli, within hours before the filing deadline, persuaded then Democratic headquarters manager, Sherrie Swensen, to represent Democrats in the Salt Lake County Clerk race.

The November 1990 results reflect the impact of a fierce Independent onslaught led by Cook-Independent Christensen, who received 10 percent of the vote, Republican Hindley 43 percent, and Democrat Swensen 47 percent. Swensen has been county clerk ever since (a point Dixon-Pignanelli frequently raises with her husband).