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- SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The polls were long closed and the numbers were in. Rep.
Merrill Cook had easily won re-election -- only he didn't seem to realize
it.
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- Four days after the election, according
to some members of his staff, Cook was disoriented and ranting that he
had to win the race at all costs.
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- In a Nov. 7 staff e-mail, just-fired
chief of staff Janet Jenson warned that Cook was becoming increasingly
erratic, and she told staffers: "If he asks you to fax his underwear
to the speaker's office, please just do it."
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- Jenson went on to say in another e-mail
that the Republican congressman "was then having and is continuing
to have some kind of psychotic breakdown," displaying paranoia, delusional
behavior and explosive mood swings.
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- "Merrill has taken up permanent
residence in whacko land, and we are all in serious jeopardy," she
wrote.
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- Jenson was fired the day after the Nov.
3 election. The congressman also fired his district director around the
same time. Two other staff members resigned, at least one in protest against
Jenson's firing.
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- The e-mails were first reported Thursday
in The Salt Lake Tribune. Copies have since been obtained by The Associated
Press.
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- Cook supporters denied the 53-year-old
congressman has suffered a break from reality and accused Jenson and other
fired staffers of orchestrating a campaign of half-truths and hyperbole
to avenge their dismissals.
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- The said the congressman was certainly
anxious over his neck-and-neck race with Democrat Lily Eskelsen, but he's
not crazy.
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- "What you have to do is look at
the motive here," said Cook spokeswoman Marnie Funk. "These people
had worked for Merrill in some cases for years. Why did they stay? They
get fired and suddenly there's a terrible problem with the congressman?"
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- She said the congressman was not available
for an interview.
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- Funk acknowledged some problem exists,
however. Cook, the millionaire owner of a mining explosives firm, has long
been known to have a short fuse.
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- Just days before the election, he was
banned from Utah's Republican Party headquarters after he threw an obscenity-laced
temper tantrum.
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- Shortly after the election, in a disjointed
radio interview in which he continued to attack his vanquished opponent,
Cook accused a reporter who had written an unfavorable story about him
of being intoxicated during an interview.
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- GOP executive director Spencer Stokes
acknowledged worries over Cook's temper and behavior but said the congressman
continues to enjoy the party's backing, at least for the time being. "It's
in Congressman Cook's court," Stokes said.
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- Cook is an independent populist-turned
Republican who had lost six campaigns over 11 years -- from county commissioner
to governor -- before winning the congressional seat abandoned by scandal-plagued
Enid Greene in 1996.
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- Over the years, Cook has been caught
cursing like a sailor, despite his adherence to the Mormon religion, which
frowns on coarse language. His blowups are legendary among reporters and
others who have witnessed his dozen years on the Utah political scene.
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- "Merrill Cook is guilty of having
a temper," Funk said. But "it's because he's passionate about
what he does."
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- Jenson, in a Nov. 8 e-mail to staffers,
claimed she was the target of a verbal attack by Cook, who accused her
of not working hard enough to win the election -- three days after he skated
to a 53-43 percent win.
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- She warned others that Cook could fire
them all and said he had, at one point, called the Capitol police to have
them all arrested. Capitol police officials said Thursday they could not
comment on any contact between a congressman and the department.
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- Jenson has refused interview requests
and on Thursday issued a statement insisting she never intended the e-mails
to be made public.
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- It was Cook supporters, insisting on
anonymity, who provided AP with copies of the e-mail because they believe
Jenson is out to get Cook.
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- Cook's defenders pointed to a parenthetical
line in one of the e-mails: "This will also be a great way to leak
out how many of us Merrill is assassinating."
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