Invited to return to the Republican Party by Leavitt, Cook ran for Congress again in 1996 as a Republican and this time claimed his first election victory.

"There was a lot of sympathy among party leaders for what happened in '94," says Cook. "I think people felt I had been cheated out of that race." Cook was re-elected in 1998, and then things began to unravel almost immediately.

Out of control?

Shortly after winning the election, he fired his chief of staff, Janet Jenson, and his congressional district leader, Rob Jeppsen — or they resigned in protest, depending on who you believe. Thus began a war of words. Jenson wrote several e-mails to staffers disparaging Cook that wound up in the media — she said Cook had "taken up permanent residence in wacko land," and "If he asks you to fax his underwear to the speaker's office, please just do it." She painted a picture of a man out of control. He said it was the work of a disgruntled, scorned employee.

Cook certainly didn't help matters when a blowup at Republican Party headquarters weeks earlier suddenly came to light after all the mud started to fly. Cook had contributed $25,000 from his own campaign to the Republicans for their get-out-to-vote campaign, which consisted of calling voters throughout the state urging them to vote for a specified list of Republican candidates. Cook's name wasn't on the list, and when he found out about it he went to party headquarters and threw a fit, unleashing a couple of F-bombs in the process.

"It's not a word I ever use, but I did say those things and somehow it all came out later," he says. "But I wasn't as out of control as they said. I turned and left calmly."

Suddenly, there were regular newspaper stories, sourced from staff members, describing tantrums that made Cook look like a kook. The mere printing of stories that raised questions about such things, true or not, was damaging and planted a seed in the minds of the public. The Deseret News ran a story under the headline: "Cook needs to show people he's really not insane." It was not atypical of newspapers at the time.

"The overriding reason was the press, namely (former Tribune managing editor) Jay Shelledy of the Tribune," says Cook. The Tribune "made me look completely crazy. It became a feeding frenzy."

It became stuff suitable for a TV mini-series. There were reports that Cook was employing a phantom employee, Shari Holweg, who, word had it, did little work but was on the payroll because she was blackmailing Cook over taped conversations between them. Holweg, who calls the whole story ridiculous, says she and her husband, Tim, maintain a close friendship with Merrill and Camille, which is curious behavior for a blackmailer.