Merrill Cook

Merrill Cook ( born May 6, 1946 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American politician. Between 1997 and 2001 he represented the second electoral district of the state of Utah in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Early years and political rise

Merrill Cook attended East High School and then studied until 1969 at the University of Utah and to 1971 at Harvard University. He then worked until 1973 as an accountant. In 1973 he was co-founder of Cook Slurry Company, which manufactures explosives for mining. Since 1973, Merrill Cook is president of this company.

Cook was a member of the Republican Party. In 1984 he ran unsuccessfully for the school board in Utah. A year later, he applied also to no avail for the post of mayor of Salt Lake City and another year later, in 1986, failed his bid for the County Council ( County Commission ) in Salt Lake County. Also in 1986 he resigned from the Republican Party and founded the Utah Independent Party, for which he ran in 1988 as governor of Utah. He was able to achieve at least 22 % of the vote and contribute to the election of the Republican candidate Norman H. Bangerter, because its votes mainly went to the expense of the Democrats Ted Wilson. In 1992 he ran again for governor. This time he could even reach 34 % of the vote and placed second behind the election winner Mike Leavitt. In 1994, he ran unsuccessfully for the first time the U.S. House of Representatives.

Congressman

Once in 1996, the Republican Congressman Enid Greene had waived because of a scandal on a bid again, Cook rejoined the Republican Party and successfully applied for the vacant place in Congress. He won the elections in the second district of Utah with 55 % of the vote to Democrat Rocky Anderson. In 1998, Merrill was confirmed with 53 % of votes. During this time he fell because of his erratic behavior to negative. When the Democrats lined up with Jim Matheson a popular opposition candidate for the election of 2000, Cook fell further and further behind in the polls behind this, the Republican Party decided to hold their own primaries, where Cook was not nominated. Therefore, he retired on January 3, 2001, from the Congress, which he had been a member since January 3, 1997, from.

Further CV

2004 candidate Merrill Cook as an Independent for the office of mayor of Salt Lake City. He was only 8% of the votes. In the years 2006 and 2008 he unsuccessfully tried each one returning to the U.S. House of Representatives. Merrill Cook is married to Camille Cook. He is a member of the Mormon Church.