A collective “yikes” emanated from the internet on Thursday as Massachusetts Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren trotted out the names of 200-plus former Barack Obama backers who have endorsed her 2020 run. The problem?
One of those names was Edward B.P. Buck, a man widely known for being an accused serial sexual predator who targets vulnerable black men.
At least three black men have died at Buck’s Laurel Canyon home in West Hollywood–after the wealthy white Democratic Party insider allegedly plied each of those men with fatal quantities of illicit drugs.
As Law&Crime previously reported, 26-year-old Gemmel Moore was discovered dead at Buck’s apartment on July 27, 2017. The L.A. County Coroner’s office ruled Moore’s death an overdose caused by methamphetamine.
According to OpenSecrets, Buck has donated tens of thousands of dollars to multiple Democratic Party candidates over the past few election cycles–including presidential contender Hillary Clinton. A longtime political activist, Buck also previously ran for elected office and has supported various progressive causes throughout the years.
Locally-based WEHOville News noted that the “coroner’s report said drug paraphernalia was found in [Buck’s] home, along with sex toys and clear plastic bags containing what was suspected to be methamphetamine.” Los Angeles authorities, likely mindful of Buck’s prominent position in the Democratic Party, said there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Buck in connection with Moore’s death.
One-and-a-half years later, however, the same thing happened again.
On January 7, 2019, 55-year-old Timothy Dean lost consciousness at Buck’s apartment. Dean lost his life.
The L.A. County Coroner’s office returned a familiar cause of death: an “accidental” overdose on methamphetamine. Aside from the suspiciously similar death, there was one further wrinkle that didn’t reflect too favorably on the Warren 2020 campaign booster: the Democrat allegedly waited 15 minutes until calling 911.
Again, Democrat-adjacent law enforcement authorities in the City of Angels declined to connect Buck to Dean’s death.
“Ed really didn’t want him to come over,” Buck’s attorney Seymour Amster told WEHOville News. “He was insistent and came over and brought his emotional issues over, and he was intoxicated and he died. Ed had nothing to with his death.”
And just over six months after that, a remarkably similar incident happened once again.
On September 17, 2019, Buck was arrested on charges of administering methamphetamine, maintaining a drug house and for battery causing serious injury after allegedly injecting a 37-year-old black man with liquid crank.
Warren’s campaign was thoroughly pilloried online over the announcement:
elizabeth warren campaign releasing a supporter list with Ed Buck is a new high mark for an own-goal from a campaign that’s consisted almost exclusively of own-goals
— jack allison (@jackallisonLOL) December 19, 2019
If literally anyone on Elizabeth Warren’s campaign cared about the lives of black people, they might’ve caught this. https://t.co/y21cLqWchi
— DSA Otherkin Caucus ❼ (@QueenInYeIIow) December 19, 2019
The Warren campaign sought to downplay the controversy–saying the mistake was that Buck was not officially affiliated with the Obama administration. There was no acknowledgment of Buck’s alleged criminal past or tendency to target black men.
“This was a mistake considering Ed Buck was not staff or an alum,” Warren campaign spokesperson Chris Hayden told the Washington Examiner. “This was put together via google doc by some Obama alums and they caught some non-staff that populated the list but obviously they missed one. They are removing it.”
That response didn’t go over so well either:
I thought this was the mistake… https://t.co/GllQ0fKcoc pic.twitter.com/FQO5aJDqpi
— aída chávez (@aidachavez) December 19, 2019
[image via screengrab/NewsOneNow]
