During the early period of this time, the Liberals' most prominent member was Gordon Gibson, Sr. He was a cigar-smoking and gregarious logging contractor who could have been Premier but for a major political error. He was elected in 1953 for the Lillooet riding. In 1955, the Sommers scandal surfaced and he was the only leader in the legislature to make an issue of it. W. A. C. Bennett and his attorney general tried many tactics to stop the information from coming out.