This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Merrill Cook is running for office again — now seeking the GOP nomination for state treasurer.
It is the 14th time he has run for office since 1984, and it is the ninth separate office he has sought as either a Republican or an independent. In all those attempts, he won two terms as a GOP member of Congress from 1997 to 2001.
"I've run so many times that it's almost impossible to remember how many," the 69-year-old joked Tuesday. "But I'm proud of it, doggone it. … People can make fun of me, but they have to agree that I'm persistent. I do it for public service."
Cook said he's running for treasurer this time because "I am very qualified, with my MBA from Harvard, my work with financial consulting," experience running a family explosives company and serving on congressional committees "dealing with the highest levels of American finance."
He said it's time to stop a cycle of treasurers serving for years, "then turning the keys of the office over to their deputies." Former Treasurer Richard Ellis recently resigned to take an executive position at the Utah Education Savings Plan, and his deputy, David Damschen, was appointed to replace him and is seeking election as a Republican.
Cook said it is important to stop that cycle that has repeated several times, and put in new blood. "It doesn't mean I'm accusing anyone of corruption. I'm saying let's avoid any chance of corruption."
He said he would push to keep taxes low. His record of putting tax limitation and reform initiatives on the ballot in the 1980s and 1990s makes him "a tax-limitation conservative," he said.
Cook said those initiatives taught him how to collect signatures, and he said he is collecting more now to qualify for the GOP primary. He noted he hasn't fared well in recent Republicans conventions — the alternative way now to qualify for a primary — as he sought other offices, "so that is one reason I am seeking signatures."
Such GOP convention losses include the one in 2010, when he ran for the U.S. Senate, in 2008, as he sought his old 2nd District U.S. House seat and, in 2006, as he sought nomination to the U.S. House in the 3rd District.
Other offices he has sought include 1984, Utah Board of Education; 1985, Salt Lake City mayor; 1986, Salt Lake County Commission; 1988 and 1992, governor as an independent; 1994, U.S. House as an independent; 1996 and 1998, won as a Republican to the U.S. House; 2000, lost a race for re-election to the U.S. House; and 2004, mayor of Salt Lake County, again as an independent.
Besides Cook and Damschen, the only other candidate who had filed for treasurer as of Tuesday was Constitution Party candidate Richard Proctor.
Phil Conder, a former treasurer candidate who is advising Damschen's campaign, said Tuesday, "Utahns have benefited greatly from having a fiscal conservative like Treasurer Damschen managing the state's highly complex finances and saving Utah taxpayers millions — and the state's treasury is in the best of hands with his competence and experience."