Recently Arrested Democrat Donor Ed Buck Also Started Fur Ban in California

In all of the research on the bill in the Legislature,  AB 44, to ban fur products in California, big Democratic donor and LGBTQ activist Ed Buck’s name was prominent. Buck was just arrested last week for luring young, gay African American men to his home, and injecting them with methamphetamine. Buck is alleged to have preyed on gay at-risk men, and pressured them to do drugs, and especially, crystal meth.

Gemmel Moore, 26, was found dead inside Buck’s home in 2017. Timothy Dean, 55, was found dead in Buck’s West Hollywood apartment this year, yet Buck was never arrested. Recently, a third young man nearly died, before Buck was finally arrested. “Buck was arrested at his West Hollywood home Tuesday night, less than a week after a man fled Buck’s home fearing he was suffering a methamphetamine overdose, prosecutors allege,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

Buck was a well-known wealthy Democratic Party donor, and was the activist who first introduced the idea of a ban on fur products. His home city of West Hollywood was the first city to impose one.

This case is reminiscent of the Harvey Weinstein case. Weinstein wasn’t arrested for years despite many credible accusations and police reports of sexual abuses, many say because of his political contributions.

It appears Buck spread a lot of campaign contributions around, which served to buy favor with politicians, to ensure support for his fur ban legislation. But is also worked to protect him and keep him from being arrested even while he continued drugging and manipulating men.

Under both his name and a PAC called Animal PAC he maxed out on political contributions, and contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to politicians.

Ed Buck’s political donations are also interesting.

*Buck’s biggest political investment was for more than $300,000 to his political action committee called Animal PAC/Social Compassion in Legislation for Animals. This PAC donated to several campaigns.

*A partial list of beneficiaries of Ed Buck’s Animal PAC include: Henry Stern for State Senate ($4,200), Anthony Portantino for Senate 2016 ($2,500), Jeffrey Prang for Accessor ($6,000), Mike Feuer for City Attorney 2013 ($1,300), John Perez for Assembly 2012 ($3,900), Bob Blumenfield for Assembly 2012 ($1,000), Betty Yee for State Controller 2014 ($250), John Duran for West Hollywood City Council ($3,200), Jeffrey Prang for West Hollywood City Council ($3,200)

*Records dating back to 2009 showed Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was one of Buck’s high-profile recipients, receiving $1,400 in 2016. That money was returned about a month after Moore died.

*Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey received $100 from Buck in 2012. Her campaign claims that money was given back in February of 2018.

*He gave former California state Senate leader Kevin De Leon $18,700 over several campaigns.

*Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu took in $19,400 in state and federal donations from Buck.

*Buck gave Rep. Adam Schiff, now chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, $2,700 in 2016.

*He made donations of $38,700 to John D’Amico, whose initial election to the West Hollywood City Council in 2011 was a project of Buck’s. An animal rights activist, Buck endorsed and campaigned for D’Amico and provided him with an army of campaign workers from various animal rights groups based on his support for a ban on the sale of fur in West Hollywood.

In West Hollywood in advance of or during consideration of the fur ban ordinance, Buck made $24,700 in donations to John Duran, $2,500 in donations to Lauren Meister and $2,000 in donations to John Heilman.

The political favor Mr. Buck earned through these donations enabled him to secure a strong coalition of support for the fur ban legislation among lawmakers…many of the same lawmakers who also apparently provided him the special treatment and protections that enabled him to avoid arrest for two years while he continued to drug and manipulate men, nearly resulting in a third death.

Below is a partial list of Ed Buck’s political contributions, including his PAC contributions. The rest of his contributions can be found Center for Responsive Politics, which is known as OpenSecrets.org