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   restaurant and getting into the pay telephone business, on both   
   of which he lost money. He owned a $280,000 house on top of a   
   hill near Squaw Peak (now known as Piestewa Peak), a mountain   
   outside of Phoenix. He also, according to a story in the Gayly   
   Oklahoman newspaper, had entered into a relationship with a   
   Chippendale dancer.   
      
   Diving Into Politics   
      
   Buck found new meaning in his life with the election in 1987 of   
   Evan Mecham, a Republican, as Arizona’s 17th governor. Mecham   
   was a controversial figure, not least because of his decision to   
   end Martin Luther King Day as a paid holiday for state   
   employees, his claim that high divorce rates were caused by   
   women holding jobs and his description of African-American   
   children as “pickaninnies.” Then there were the accusations that   
   he misused state funds and failed to disclose a $350,000   
   campaign loan.   
      
   Buck launched a successful effort to impeach Mecham, leading the   
   Arizona Republic to describe Buck as a “millionaire, self-   
   acknowledged homosexual and registered Republican” who was   
   “destined to go down in history as one of Arizona’s most   
   unlikely political figures.”   
      
   The impeachment campaign was a rough one, with Buck attacked   
   because he was gay. It also resulted in publicity about Buck’s   
   arrest for “public sexual indecency” in an adult bookstore in   
   1983. Buck pleaded guilty and paid a fine, and the charge was   
   dismissed. He claimed a cop had seen him grab the crotch of a   
   friend. Buck also was called out for trying to get a drugstore   
   to fill a fake prescription for Percocet, a highly addictive   
   drug that contains oxycodone. In an interview in 1988 with the   
   Washington Blade, Buck said he had made a copy of an existing   
   prescription and needed to fill it because of pain from a root   
   canal. Buck was indicted by a Maricopa (Ariz.) County grand jury   
   on a charge of “attempting to obtain a narcotic through fraud or   
   deceit.” A judge agreed to dismiss charges against Buck if he   
   would be tested weekly for drug use for one year.   
      
   Given that Buck was openly gay, and that Mecham was known as   
   homophobic (he once said during a radio interview that he would   
   ask for a list of gay state employees, implying he would fire   
   them), Buck became somewhat of an LGBT community hero. In 1989,   
   for example, he was named Grand Marshal of the International Gay   
   Rodeo in Arizona. Yet Buck didn’t identify with some parts of   
   the gay community. In his interview with the Washington Blade,   
   Buck criticized some for their flamboyance. “We dress up, we see   
   guys in their best leather, others in their best dresses,   
   marching down the street,” he said. “These people do not   
   represent the majority of gay people, who would never wear   
   costumes. And it drives the semi-closeted and moderate gay   
   people underground.”   
      
   Switching Parties   
      
   In 1988 at a Republican Party conference in Oklahoma City, Buck   
   called for changes in the party’s “intolerant” stand on LGBT   
   rights in Oklahoma, which included opposition to state-mandated   
   sex education programs in schools. Unable to make major changes   
   in his political party, Buck soon switched allegiances. In an   
   online post in 2010, he explained his decision. “I didn’t leave   
   the Republican Party, it left me. I can remember Barry Goldwater   
   saying ‘out of the boardroom and out of the bedroom’ when   
   referring to the role of government. That’s the GOP I was a   
   proud member of … My principals have not changed, but to keep   
   true to them, my political party had to change.”   
      
   Buck continued his political involvement as a Democrat, hosting   
   a fundraiser for the Gay and Lesbian Political Campaign Fund ’90   
   in 1989 at his Squaw Peak home, with openly gay U.S. Rep. Barney   
   Frank (D-Mass.) as a special guest. He also helped raise money   
   for HIV/AIDS services in Arizona. He also successfully pushed   
   Circle K, a nationwide chain of convenience stores based in   
   Phoenix, to back away from a policy of denying medical coverage   
   to those with AIDS or substance abuse problems.   
      
   Moving to West Hollywood   
      
   Buck “retired” to West Hollywood in 1991. One of the causes he   
   embraced in WeHo was rescuing abandoned or endangered animals.   
   He is said to have fostered care for more than 40 over a five-   
   year period. In 2007 he made an unsuccessful run for a seat on   
   the City Council. In that campaign, he teamed up with Steve   
   Martin and Heavenly Wilson to challenge incumbents John Heilman,   
   Abbe Land and Sal Guarriello, all of whom were re-elected. In   
   2010  Buck was featured on CNN and other news channels when he   
   attended a town hall meeting and interrupted Meg Whitman, who   
   was running as the Republican candidate for governor of   
   California. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie went face-to-face   
   with Buck and asked him to stop.   
      
   Buck put his political energy and skills to work in a campaign   
   to get West Hollywood to enact the nation’s first ban on the   
   sale of fur products. As part of that effort, he backed John   
   D’Amico’s campaign for a seat on the City Council. D’Amico   
   declared his support for a fur ban, something opposed by the   
   WeHo Chamber of Commerce and some local businesses. Buck also   
   helped D’Amico in his effort to position himself as a reformer   
   who would push back against the political establishment,   
   especially John Heilman, who has been on the City Council since   
   West Hollywood was incorporated in 1984.   
      
   As part of that effort, Buck demanded access to city records to   
   build a case that City Hall staffers and some City Council   
   members were misusing city credit cards. That campaign focused   
   mostly on Fran Solomon, the deputy to Heilman. In a press   
   conference the day before the March 7, 2011, election, D’Amico   
   and fellow challengers Scott Schmidt, Steve Martin, Mito Aviles   
   and Lucas John Junkin issued a statement saying that ”tens of   
   thousands of taxpayer dollars (have been) wasted on high-end   
   meals and luxurious gifts for City Hall staff, developers and   
   lobbyists.”   
      
   A subsequent investigation by the city largely refuted those   
   accusations, noting that Solomon had spent less than $2,000 in   
   2010 on meals with constituents and people doing business with   
   the city, which was part of her role as a full-time deputy to a   
   part-time council member. Other expenses called out by Buck and   
   the City Council candidates involved payments for awards such as   
   gift cards and ball point pens to city employees who had reached   
   certain employee milestones. The district attorney did launch an   
   investigation into Councilmember John Duran’s spending on   
   lunches but eventually dropped it.   
      
   The Death of Gemmel Moore   
      
   Buck has kept a relatively low profile since the 2011 City   
   Council election. He has, however, continued to contribute to   
   election campaigns. The right-wing media outlets have called out   
   $2,750 that he contributed to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 election   
   campaign. A quick online search shows donations of nearly   
   $30,000 through June of this year to Democratic candidates in   
   state races such as Ted Lieu, Pete Aguilar, Raja Krishnamoorthi   
   and the Getting Things Done PAC. On Aug. 9 he updated the photo   
   on his Facebook page, which he apparently hadn’t posted on for   
   more than a year. Many of his friends welcomed him back.   
      
   Buck was back in the news last week after a video was posted   
   online with LaTisha Nixon demanding an investigation of the   
   death of her son, Gemmel Moore, a 26-year-old African-American   
   man, at Buck’s apartment at 1234 Laurel Ave. on July 27. The   
   outcry over Moore’s death prompted the L.A. Sheriff’s Department   
      
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