Ken Buck
Encyclopedia
Kenneth R. "Ken" Buck is the District Attorney
for Weld County, Colorado
, and was the unsuccessful Republican
challenger to Michael Bennet
in the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Colorado.
. He and his two brothers were encouraged by their parents, both New York lawyers, to attend Ivy League
colleges, and Buck earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University
in 1981. Buck later said that the Princeton degree was "more important to [my father] than me". Buck played four years of football at Princeton, one year as a defensive back/punter/kicker and three years as a punter, earning All-Ivy League honors as a punter his senior year.
After college Buck moved west and worked in Wyoming
at the state legislative services office and received a law degree from the University of Wyoming College of Law
in 1985. He was also an instructor at the University of Denver
Law School and for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy
in Colorado.
to work on the Iran-Contra investigation. Following that assignment, he worked as a prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington D.C.
In 1990 Buck joined the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado where he became Chief of the Criminal Division. Buck was formally reprimanded and required to take ethics classes in 2001 for a meeting he had with defense attorneys about a felony case he thought should not be pursued. Only one of the three men initially indicted on felony charges was convicted, for a misdemeanor offense. Buck said he is "not proud" of the incident that effectively ended his career with the Justice Department, but says he felt it was "unethical" to prosecute such a "weak" case against the three men. One of the three men donated $700 to Buck's 2010 Senate campaign.
in 2004. When he suspected that Social Security number
s were being stolen by illegal immigrants
, he raided a tax service in Greeley, Colorado
and seized more than 5,000 tax files. The American Civil Liberties Union
sued Buck's office for violating the privacy of the service's clients and after an appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court
, costing the county approximately $150,000, the raid was deemed unconstitutional. Buck has said that his time enforcing laws for the Justice Department and Weld County stoked his desire to become a lawmaker himself.
During the 2010 Senate race, The Colorado Independent ran an article entitled "Suspect in 2005 Buck rape
case said he knew it was rape,". The article, about a case Buck refused to prosecute in 2006, included a complete transcript of a tape between the victim and her attacker, including the following dialogue:
The tape, which Greeley police had the victim record during their investigation, was available before Buck made his decision not to prosecute the woman's admitted rapist.
According to a following article in the Independent, "Buck’s refusal to prosecute 2005 rape case reverberates in U.S. Senate race," the reporter provides a transcript of another tape of a conversation between the woman and Buck, in which "Buck appears to all but blame her for the rape and tells her that her case would never fly with a Weld County jury."
“A jury could very well conclude that this is a case of buyer’s remorse,” he told the Greeley Tribune in 2006.
“That comment made me feel horrible,” the victim told the Colorado Independent in 2010. “The offender admitted he did it, but Ken Buck said I was to blame. Had he (Buck) not attacked me, I might have let it go. But he put the blame on me, and I was furious. I still am furious,” she said.
According to the Independent, "A man entered the alleged victim’s apartment and had sex with her while she was drunk, she says. As she passed in and out of consciousness, she says she told him “no” and tried to push him away. If he had been a stranger, the case may have played out differently, but he was a former lover, and she had invited him over."
In the meeting that she recorded, Buck said, “It appears to me … that you invited him over to have sex with him," and that he thought she might have wanted to file rape charges to retaliate against the man for some bad feeling left over from when they had been lovers more than a year earlier. According the Independent, "Buck also comes off on this tape as being at least as concerned with the woman’s sexual history and alcohol consumption as he is with other facts of the case."
Drawing on Buck's abortion stance, the Independent also points out that "The suspect in this case had claimed that the victim had at one point a year or so before this event become pregnant with his child and had an abortion
, which she denies, saying she miscarried
. The suspect’s claim, though, is in the police report, and Buck refers to it as a reason she may be motivated to file charges where he thinks none are warranted."
, even in cases of rape
and incest
, but makes exceptions if the mother’s life is in danger.
Buck supports the U.S. military's "Don’t ask, don’t tell" policy. He said, “I do not support the repeal of don't ask don't tell. I think it is a policy that makes a lot of sense.” Buck believes that being gay
is a choice. He said, "I think birth has an influence over it, like alcoholism
… but I think that basically you have a choice." The Log Cabin Republicans
have rebuked him for this comment.
He opposes the health care reform
laws that were enacted in 2010. He instead favors free market
-based reforms. His campaign website states, “We need to let the market work, make people responsible for their own insurance, and restore Americans' freedom to decide for themselves whether and how much insurance to buy.” He supported a state constitutional amendment that would give rights to unborn fetus
es, but then later withdrew his support reportedly after he found out that the measure would have restricted certain fertility and contraception
procedures.
Buck proposed privatizing Veterans Administration
hospitals so they would "be better run". Three months later, Buck changed positions and his campaign said, "...while Buck does indeed believe that private sector providers might do a better job than the VA in delivering health care to veterans, he is not in favor of fully privatizing health care for veterans."
Buck supports a revamp of the Department of Education
and questions the department's constitutionality. Buck supports gun rights and is endorsed by Gun Owners of America
. He stated that he would "oppose any federal legislation to compile a database of gun owners or to further proscribe Americans' freedoms under the Second Amendment
". He also stated that if elected to the Senate he would never raise taxes.
According to a Buck spokesman, "Ken believes there is global warming
but thinks the evidence points to it being natural rather than man-made."
, Buck announced his plans to run for U.S. Senator on April 28, 2009. In his first run for state-wide office, Buck frequently referenced national issues in defining his goals as a U.S. Senator. Among these were his opposition to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (a program of federal economic stimulus initiated under President George W. Bush
and finalized under President Barack Obama
) and the role of federal policy czars
. Buck also stressed mounting governmental debt, an issue to which he was to frequently return throughout the primary campaign. Buck, contrasting himself to what he argued was the "top down" style of early Republican favorite Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, also pledged a "bottom-up" campaign that would include visits to each of Colorado's 64 counties.
Initially Norton was seen to have had a nearly insurmountable advantage against "a band of underfunded unknowns" that included Buck, who early in the primary season was called "a dead-in-the-water Republican U.S. Senate candidate with laughable fundraising totals and little establishment GOP support". Norton's staff at the beginning of the campaign was twice the size of Buck's. He attempted to make a virtue of his meager war chest by positioning "himself as the small-money underdog" in an election cycle that saw a "populist
push for outsider candidates to upset the Washington establishment".
After receiving nearly $600,000 in a television advertising support from Americans for Job Security
and a victory in March at the state party's caucuses, Buck began to receive endorsements and notice. By late spring of 2010, Colorado had highly competitive Republican and Democratic primaries.
Although Buck positioned himself as the candidate for the Tea Party movement
during the Republican primary, he stirred controversy at times with remarks critical of former Rep. Tom Tancredo
, a Tea Party favorite, and the statement "Will you tell those dumbasses at the Tea Party to stop asking questions about birth certificates while I'm on the camera?" — a reference to those suspicious of President Barack Obama's place of birth
. Buck blamed the comments on his exhaustion and frustration after months of campaigning, and on his exasperation that it was difficult to keep campaign debate focused on the issue of mounting governmental debt. Tea Party leader Lu Busse criticized Buck's "choice of words" and inclination to treat all Tea Party adherents as a uniform group.
Buck again stirred controversy by suggesting voters should cast their votes for him over Norton because, unlike his female competitor, "I do not wear high heels." Buck later stated that he was responding to Norton's television ad claiming he was not "man enough" to attack her himself.
(According to mass email, sent on behalf of Senator Jim DeMint
, it was a joking paraphrase of his opponent's suggestion to vote for her, "because I wear high heels").
Making reference to Buck's mandatory ethics classes, Norton argued that she "didn't need an ethics class to know what's right. ... Ken broke the rules, and the facts speak for themselves." After Buck's former supervisor, U.S. Attorney John Suthers, endorsed Norton, the Colorado Democratic Party Chair called for Buck's resignation from his Weld County post because of his "career bypassing justice and ethics to reward political allies and campaign contributors".
On August 10, Buck defeated Norton in the Republican primary election by a 52% to 48% margin, the end of "a bitterly contested primary that saw him go from an obscure and cash-starved underdog to a gaffe-prone mascot for anti-establishment conservatives [in Colorado] and nationally."
.
at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York
. Daughter Kaitlin (born 1991) received college credit to work on her father's 2010 Senate campaign.
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
for Weld County, Colorado
Weld County, Colorado
As of the census of 2000, there were 180,936 people, 63,247 households, and 45,221 families residing in the county. The population density was 45 people per square mile . There were 66,194 housing units at an average density of 17 per square mile...
, and was the unsuccessful Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
challenger to Michael Bennet
Michael Bennet
Michael Farrand Bennet is an American businessman, lawyer, and politician. He is currently the junior United States Senator from Colorado, and a member of the Democratic Party...
in the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Colorado.
Early life and education
Buck was born in Ossining, New YorkOssining (village), New York
Ossining is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 25,060 at the 2010 census. As a village, it is located in the Town of Ossining.-Geography:Ossining borders the eastern shores of the widest part of the Hudson River....
. He and his two brothers were encouraged by their parents, both New York lawyers, to attend Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
colleges, and Buck earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 1981. Buck later said that the Princeton degree was "more important to [my father] than me". Buck played four years of football at Princeton, one year as a defensive back/punter/kicker and three years as a punter, earning All-Ivy League honors as a punter his senior year.
After college Buck moved west and worked in Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
at the state legislative services office and received a law degree from the University of Wyoming College of Law
University of Wyoming College of Law
The University of Wyoming College of Law is the law school of the University of Wyoming and the only law school located in Wyoming. It is situated in the beautiful rocky mountains in Laramie, Wyoming at 7,165 ft. between the Laramie Mountains and Snowy Range Mountains...
in 1985. He was also an instructor at the University of Denver
University of Denver
The University of Denver is currently ranked 82nd among all public and private "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report in the 2012 rankings....
Law School and for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy
National Institute for Trial Advocacy
The National Institute for Trial Advocacy is a not for profit organization that was initially formed in 1969 in an effort to provide lawyers with better trial skills training, and was spurred on by criticisms within the judicial system of the apparent lack of trial preparation occurring within law...
in Colorado.
U.S. Attorney's Office
In 1986, he was hired by then-congressman Dick CheneyDick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
to work on the Iran-Contra investigation. Following that assignment, he worked as a prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington D.C.
In 1990 Buck joined the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado where he became Chief of the Criminal Division. Buck was formally reprimanded and required to take ethics classes in 2001 for a meeting he had with defense attorneys about a felony case he thought should not be pursued. Only one of the three men initially indicted on felony charges was convicted, for a misdemeanor offense. Buck said he is "not proud" of the incident that effectively ended his career with the Justice Department, but says he felt it was "unethical" to prosecute such a "weak" case against the three men. One of the three men donated $700 to Buck's 2010 Senate campaign.
Weld County District Attorney
Buck was elected the District Attorney for Weld County, ColoradoWeld County, Colorado
As of the census of 2000, there were 180,936 people, 63,247 households, and 45,221 families residing in the county. The population density was 45 people per square mile . There were 66,194 housing units at an average density of 17 per square mile...
in 2004. When he suspected that Social Security number
Social Security number
In the United States, a Social Security number is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents under section 205 of the Social Security Act, codified as . The number is issued to an individual by the Social Security Administration, an independent...
s were being stolen by illegal immigrants
Illegal immigration
Illegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...
, he raided a tax service in Greeley, Colorado
Greeley, Colorado
The City of Greeley is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Weld County, Colorado, United States. Greeley is located in the region known as Northern Colorado. Greeley is situated north-northeast of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. According to the...
and seized more than 5,000 tax files. The American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
sued Buck's office for violating the privacy of the service's clients and after an appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court
Colorado Supreme Court
The Colorado Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Colorado. Located in Denver, the Court consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices.-Appellate jurisdiction:...
, costing the county approximately $150,000, the raid was deemed unconstitutional. Buck has said that his time enforcing laws for the Justice Department and Weld County stoked his desire to become a lawmaker himself.
During the 2010 Senate race, The Colorado Independent ran an article entitled "Suspect in 2005 Buck rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
case said he knew it was rape,". The article, about a case Buck refused to prosecute in 2006, included a complete transcript of a tape between the victim and her attacker, including the following dialogue:
The tape, which Greeley police had the victim record during their investigation, was available before Buck made his decision not to prosecute the woman's admitted rapist.
According to a following article in the Independent, "Buck’s refusal to prosecute 2005 rape case reverberates in U.S. Senate race," the reporter provides a transcript of another tape of a conversation between the woman and Buck, in which "Buck appears to all but blame her for the rape and tells her that her case would never fly with a Weld County jury."
“A jury could very well conclude that this is a case of buyer’s remorse,” he told the Greeley Tribune in 2006.
“That comment made me feel horrible,” the victim told the Colorado Independent in 2010. “The offender admitted he did it, but Ken Buck said I was to blame. Had he (Buck) not attacked me, I might have let it go. But he put the blame on me, and I was furious. I still am furious,” she said.
According to the Independent, "A man entered the alleged victim’s apartment and had sex with her while she was drunk, she says. As she passed in and out of consciousness, she says she told him “no” and tried to push him away. If he had been a stranger, the case may have played out differently, but he was a former lover, and she had invited him over."
In the meeting that she recorded, Buck said, “It appears to me … that you invited him over to have sex with him," and that he thought she might have wanted to file rape charges to retaliate against the man for some bad feeling left over from when they had been lovers more than a year earlier. According the Independent, "Buck also comes off on this tape as being at least as concerned with the woman’s sexual history and alcohol consumption as he is with other facts of the case."
Drawing on Buck's abortion stance, the Independent also points out that "The suspect in this case had claimed that the victim had at one point a year or so before this event become pregnant with his child and had an abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, which she denies, saying she miscarried
Miscarriage
Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
. The suspect’s claim, though, is in the police report, and Buck refers to it as a reason she may be motivated to file charges where he thinks none are warranted."
Political positions
Buck opposes abortionAbortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, even in cases of rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
, but makes exceptions if the mother’s life is in danger.
Buck supports the U.S. military's "Don’t ask, don’t tell" policy. He said, “I do not support the repeal of don't ask don't tell. I think it is a policy that makes a lot of sense.” Buck believes that being gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
is a choice. He said, "I think birth has an influence over it, like alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
… but I think that basically you have a choice." The Log Cabin Republicans
Log Cabin Republicans
The Log Cabin Republicans is an organization that works within the Republican Party to advocate equal rights for all Americans, including gays and lesbians in the United States with state chapters and a national office in Washington, D.C...
have rebuked him for this comment.
He opposes the health care reform
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The law is the principal health care reform legislation of the 111th United States Congress...
laws that were enacted in 2010. He instead favors free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
-based reforms. His campaign website states, “We need to let the market work, make people responsible for their own insurance, and restore Americans' freedom to decide for themselves whether and how much insurance to buy.” He supported a state constitutional amendment that would give rights to unborn fetus
Fetus
A fetus is a developing mammal or other viviparous vertebrate after the embryonic stage and before birth.In humans, the fetal stage of prenatal development starts at the beginning of the 11th week in gestational age, which is the 9th week after fertilization.-Etymology and spelling variations:The...
es, but then later withdrew his support reportedly after he found out that the measure would have restricted certain fertility and contraception
Contraception
Contraception is the prevention of the fusion of gametes during or after sexual activity. The term contraception is a contraction of contra, which means against, and the word conception, meaning fertilization...
procedures.
Buck proposed privatizing Veterans Administration
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is the United States government’s second largest department, after the United States Department of Defense...
hospitals so they would "be better run". Three months later, Buck changed positions and his campaign said, "...while Buck does indeed believe that private sector providers might do a better job than the VA in delivering health care to veterans, he is not in favor of fully privatizing health care for veterans."
Buck supports a revamp of the Department of Education
United States Department of Education
The United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...
and questions the department's constitutionality. Buck supports gun rights and is endorsed by Gun Owners of America
Gun Owners of America
Gun Owners of America is a gun rights organization in the United States with over 300,000 members. They make efforts to differentiate themselves from the larger National Rifle Association , and have publicly criticized the NRA on multiple occasions for what the GOA considers to be the selling out...
. He stated that he would "oppose any federal legislation to compile a database of gun owners or to further proscribe Americans' freedoms under the Second Amendment
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights.In 2008 and 2010, the Supreme Court issued two Second...
". He also stated that if elected to the Senate he would never raise taxes.
According to a Buck spokesman, "Ken believes there is global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
but thinks the evidence points to it being natural rather than man-made."
Republican primary
Angered by what he later called the nation's "lurch to the leftLeft-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
, Buck announced his plans to run for U.S. Senator on April 28, 2009. In his first run for state-wide office, Buck frequently referenced national issues in defining his goals as a U.S. Senator. Among these were his opposition to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The law is the principal health care reform legislation of the 111th United States Congress...
, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (a program of federal economic stimulus initiated under President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and finalized under President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
) and the role of federal policy czars
Czar (political term)
Czar or tsar is an informal title for certain high-level officials in the United States and United Kingdom. Political czars can run or organize governmental departments, and may devote their expertise to a single area of work...
. Buck also stressed mounting governmental debt, an issue to which he was to frequently return throughout the primary campaign. Buck, contrasting himself to what he argued was the "top down" style of early Republican favorite Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, also pledged a "bottom-up" campaign that would include visits to each of Colorado's 64 counties.
Initially Norton was seen to have had a nearly insurmountable advantage against "a band of underfunded unknowns" that included Buck, who early in the primary season was called "a dead-in-the-water Republican U.S. Senate candidate with laughable fundraising totals and little establishment GOP support". Norton's staff at the beginning of the campaign was twice the size of Buck's. He attempted to make a virtue of his meager war chest by positioning "himself as the small-money underdog" in an election cycle that saw a "populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
push for outsider candidates to upset the Washington establishment".
After receiving nearly $600,000 in a television advertising support from Americans for Job Security
Americans for Job Security
Americans for Job Security is a Virginia-based 501 group that OpenSecrets.org describes as "a pro-Republican, pro-business organization" headed by David Carney. The American Insurance Association launched the group with $1 million in seed funding in 1997...
and a victory in March at the state party's caucuses, Buck began to receive endorsements and notice. By late spring of 2010, Colorado had highly competitive Republican and Democratic primaries.
Although Buck positioned himself as the candidate for the Tea Party movement
Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement is an American populist political movement that is generally recognized as conservative and libertarian, and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009...
during the Republican primary, he stirred controversy at times with remarks critical of former Rep. Tom Tancredo
Tom Tancredo
Thomas Gerard "Tom" Tancredo is an American politician from Colorado, who represented the state's sixth congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2009, as a Republican...
, a Tea Party favorite, and the statement "Will you tell those dumbasses at the Tea Party to stop asking questions about birth certificates while I'm on the camera?" — a reference to those suspicious of President Barack Obama's place of birth
Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theories about the citizenship of Barack Obama claim that Barack Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States and is therefore not eligible to be President of the United States under Article Two of the U.S. Constitution. Some theories allege that Obama was born in Kenya, not...
. Buck blamed the comments on his exhaustion and frustration after months of campaigning, and on his exasperation that it was difficult to keep campaign debate focused on the issue of mounting governmental debt. Tea Party leader Lu Busse criticized Buck's "choice of words" and inclination to treat all Tea Party adherents as a uniform group.
Buck again stirred controversy by suggesting voters should cast their votes for him over Norton because, unlike his female competitor, "I do not wear high heels." Buck later stated that he was responding to Norton's television ad claiming he was not "man enough" to attack her himself.
(According to mass email, sent on behalf of Senator Jim DeMint
Jim DeMint
James Warren "Jim" DeMint is the junior U.S. Senator from South Carolina, serving since 2005. He is a member of the Republican Party and a leader in the Tea Party movement. He previously served as the U.S. Representative for from 1999 to 2005.-Early life and education:DeMint was born in...
, it was a joking paraphrase of his opponent's suggestion to vote for her, "because I wear high heels").
Making reference to Buck's mandatory ethics classes, Norton argued that she "didn't need an ethics class to know what's right. ... Ken broke the rules, and the facts speak for themselves." After Buck's former supervisor, U.S. Attorney John Suthers, endorsed Norton, the Colorado Democratic Party Chair called for Buck's resignation from his Weld County post because of his "career bypassing justice and ethics to reward political allies and campaign contributors".
On August 10, Buck defeated Norton in the Republican primary election by a 52% to 48% margin, the end of "a bitterly contested primary that saw him go from an obscure and cash-starved underdog to a gaffe-prone mascot for anti-establishment conservatives [in Colorado] and nationally."
Senate general election
In the November general election, Buck was defeated by Senator Michael BennetMichael Bennet
Michael Farrand Bennet is an American businessman, lawyer, and politician. He is currently the junior United States Senator from Colorado, and a member of the Democratic Party...
.
Personal life
Buck married his Princeton girlfriend in 1984, and they divorced in 1994. His mother introduced him to his current wife, Perry, after meeting her at a gathering for antiques collectors; they married in 1996. Formerly a successful banker and businesswoman, Perry Buck has "given up much of her professional life" to support her husband in his Senate campaign. He has two children from his first marriage. Son Cody (born 1988) is currently a cadetCadet
A cadet is a trainee to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. The term comes from the term "cadet" for younger sons of a noble family.- Military context :...
at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York
West Point, New York
West Point is a federal military reservation established by President of the United States Thomas Jefferson in 1802. It is a census-designated place located in Town of Highlands in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 7,138 at the 2000 census...
. Daughter Kaitlin (born 1991) received college credit to work on her father's 2010 Senate campaign.
External links
- Weld County Office of the District Attorney's official county government site
- Ken Buck's official constituency site
- Ken Buck's official campaign site
- Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
- Collected news and commentary at The Washington TimesThe Washington TimesThe Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...
- Political Polygraph: A fact check on Ken Buck, Elizabeth Miller, The Denver PostThe Denver Post-Ownership:The Post is the flagship newspaper of MediaNews Group Inc., founded in 1983 by William Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder. MediaNews is today one of the nation's largest newspaper chains, publisher of 61 daily newspapers and more than 120 non-daily publications in 13 states. MediaNews...
, August 14, 2010