Kelly Casaday says that seeing Rep. Merrill Cook triumph at the 1996 state Republican convention proved to be one of the top three best days of his life.
"Getting married was pretty good and getting children was pretty good, but there was something special about getting Merrill elected," he said Friday.
Ironically, Casaday was testifying in 3rd District Court against the man who evokes for him such fondness. Irony No. 2: Casaday is currently managing the campaign for Jeff Wright, one of Cook's opponents at next month's Republican convention.
Many contradictions have permeated Cook's trial in its first week. At the forefront, of course, is the lawsuit that claims Cook still owes 1996 campaign consultant R.T. Nielson $193,992 for services rendered during and after the yearlong campaign.
Nielson is the man whose company helped Cook achieve his first political victory after six failed attempts for elected office. But, not only does Nielson claim that Cook adamantly refused to pay him the money owed, as four witnesses this week testified — all of whom in one way or another worked on the Cook campaign — but Cook is also countersuing, alleging Nielson overcharged him several thousand dollars.
Cook has not had his say yet, but he is expected to take the witness stand Monday afternoon. One of his lawyers, Ron Yengich, said Cook will have about three additional witnesses, and testimony is expected to conclude Thursday.
Sometimes known for his outspoken nature, Cook has been very quiet throughout the proceedings. He sits calmly next to his attorneys, Yengich and Loni DeLand, and sometimes consults with his wife, Camille, or other aides who attend the trial sporadically.
The most spontaneous emotion Cook has shown in the courtroom occurred Friday when he smiled at former 1996 campaign staffer Debbie Farrar. While most witnesses avoided eye contact with Cook, Farrar gazed at him during a brief interlude following her direct examination and smiled at the reciprocating congressman.
Farrar also remembers Cook's victories at the Republican convention and primary fondly.
"It was a great day," she said. Cook "thanked us all publicly. . . . He thanked a lot of people, but it stuck in my mind that he named me specifically."
She, too, had been called as a corroborating witness against Cook.
The seven-woman, one-man jury, plus a male alternate, gave a collective sigh of relief when Nielson's attorneys ran out of witnesses and Judge Sandra Peuler announced that she would let the jury go home 15 minutes early Friday. The jurors' occasional yawns and downcast expressions by week's end made it obvious that four days of meticulous testimony detailing hundreds of invoices, contracts, receipts and letters had taken their toll.
Parodying a whole morning's testimony that, among other things, focused on the amounts Nielson charged Cook for pies, hot dogs and ice cream bought for a campaign event, Yengich quipped during a court recess: "Hey, Merrill, I'm hungry, can you lend me $230?"
An onlooker who preferred to remain anonymous pointed out the irony that attorneys were spending so much time and effort proving or disproving the cost of some $300 worth of hot dogs while that morning's trial session probably cost many times that.
But while Cook is virtually stuck in the courtroom for another week, he is also finding some time to campaign. Today he will face off with Wright for the first time at the College Republicans of Utah convention in Park City. The two-term representative said this week that he feels his record over the past four years will carry him to another victory.
DeLand suggested while cross-examining Casaday that Casaday's testimony might help Wright gain some advantage over Cook.
"I don't think this testimony or my presence in court will help him one iota," Casaday said. "My time would much better be spent doing other things."
And so would Cook's, he said.