Buck Says He Will Not Endorse Any State Representative Candidate During Primary Season

Retiring Democratic State Representative Frank Buck says he will not endorse any candidate to succeed him during the primary season
In an interview with WJLE Thursday, Buck said it would not be appropriate for him to support one candidate over another during the Democratic Primary. “If anybody tells you or the public that I am endorsing any one candidate over another, they are simply not telling the truth. I have not said anything like that to any of the candidates that have come by and talked with me. I’ve made it very clear to everyone of them who have come by that in the primaries I’m not going to endorse anybody and anyone who tells the public otherwise is simply not telling the truth.”
“The matter of gaining the trust of the public is going to have to be done by the candidates themselves. There are dozens of issues that are dealt with during the General Assembly that you cannot anticipate from one year to the next. The members of the General Assembly have to make judgment calls. They have to make decisions and over innumerable matters. It is up to the candidates to get out here and make the public understand whether or not they can be trusted. Anytime you have a new representative who is elected to vote on that many different issues, this is a leap of faith to some degree on behalf of the public. They have to try to decide to vote for whoever they think will be fair, who will try to use the position for the interest of the counties and the public, and not to use the position for their own benefit. All these things are matters of confidence of the public in the representative. One person cannot give trust and confidence to some other candidate. The candidates themselves have to convince the public that they’re worthy of trust and that simply has to be done by the candidates. Simply put, I’m doing exactly what I ought to do. These candidates ought to have to get out here and convince the public themselves and for that very reason I feel like it’s highly inappropriate for me to embrace anybody. They need to get out here and convince the public themselves.”