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https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/121126455/ https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/121126558/ Arizona Republic Phoenix, Arizona Sunday, November 29, 1987 - Page 9 and 10

Buck has more important things to worry about, he said, like challenges. During the recall-petition push, his drive and his enthusiasm for what he was doing was insatiable. He said he was spurred on even more by those who said the recall couldn't be done.

"I didn't know about failing," Buck said. "I had nothing to compare it to. I had no reason to believe I would fail."

From the start, Buck courted the media.

"I dealt with the media like I would anyone else -- I was honest, I was open, I was direct," Buck said.

"And one thing I learned: I always, always returned a phone call. ... I think it was refreshing for reporters to be able to always call me and get a comment."

Smith, the president of the recall movement, admitted that Buck's media presence and accessibility were carefully calculated.

"He said things very directly and sometimes humorously and, frankly, he was attractive to the press because he looked good on a 60-second sound bite," Smith said of Buck.

Critics say that Buck is a product of the media.

"I'll tell you -- the press fed this (the recall) from Day 1," said Ron Bellus, Mecham's former press secretary and now director of advertising for the state Office of Tourism.

"Ed Buck was not this movement. He was media-created, media-fed. He used the media very well. Why was it that whenever he said something, he was never challenged?" Shirley Whitlock, chairwoman of the conservative American Eagle Forum, said she thinks Mecham has always gotten a "hatchet job" from the media while Buck has enjoyed consistently positive coverage.

"Ed Buck believes he's king of the world," Whitlock said. "You probably saw him (on Nov. 2) when he was ready to break down the doors of the Capitol and called the black guard a 'baboon.' There's the real racist."

On that day, Buck said, "This baboon won't get out of the way."

He was referring to Lee Limbs, the chief of Capitol security, who had refused to unlock the Capitol's east doors so recall workers could carry their petitions through the Old Capitol to the secretary of state's office.

Buck, who has accused Mecham of being a racist, says the comment was not meant to be derogatory.

"I was asking him a question, and he would not respond," Buck said. "He was acting like a baboon. He was in our way. He was like a big stump in our way."

Buck said he was under great stress that day because his life had been threatened and a group of "terrorists" had threatened to destroy the petitions before they ever reached the Capitol.

Buck delivered the actual petitions several hours before the confrontation with Limbs, however, and was carrying an empty box when he was refused entrance to the Capitol's east side.

The antics embarrassed many workers in the recall movement, particularly those in Tucson, who had always had the most independent-minded office anyway.

"Buck is a very different person behind the scenes," said David Jones, who was co-chairman of the Tucson recall office until he was fired in August.

"He's a bit of a spoiled little boy. He's got some real maturity problems. This is not the Buck you see in front of the camera, with all his finesse and charm."

Jones, along with Co-Chairwoman Helen Morgan, Mike's mother, and Vice Chairman Paul Simonetta, were dismissed when Smith showed up at the recall office in Tucson to have the locks changed on the doors.

Smith said Tucson recall workers were holding on to petitions in order to gain more clout in a power play designed to give the southern Arizona office more autonomy from the Phoenix headquarters.

Simonetta said Tucson workers held on to the petitions because the Phoenix office was giving out inflated estimates of the number of signatures the movement had collected.

"We were livid," Simonetta said. He added that Buck had become convinced two days earlier that heads should roll when Simonetta and Jones gave a statement to the Green Valley News & Sun suggesting that Buck step down as recall leader because he was too controversial.

Jones said offices throughout the state tired quickly of dealing with Buck, who they viewed as inflexible and intolerant of decisions that conflicted with his own. He also said that recall workers grew tired of Buck's insistence on making almost all decisions for the recall with very little input.

Miller, the statewide recall coordinator who quit after a month, said she was asked several times to lead a "hostile takeover" of the recall leadership.

"I was the only person who everyone could vent with about how much they hated dealing with Buck," Miller said.

"But I was not tied emotionally to the recall. I found it very easy to walk away, and I certainly wanted no part in leading it."

Smith acknowledged that some decisions were made by only two or three people because of time constraints. He also acknowledged that Buck could be overbearing.

"Ed is a very bright, very articulate and very fast-thinking person," Smith said. "If you don't keep up with him, I would not say he becomes abrasive, but he becomes very direct. If you are not very secure in your opinion, his tendency would probably be to move right by you."

But even those who dislike Buck admit that he taught them a lot.

Miller said her 31 days working with Buck gave her more experience in dealing with people than the 31 previous years of her life.

"It was probably the most difficult experience of my life," said Miller, a consultant who speaks to businesses about motivational techniques.

"In a very odd way, I am grateful to Ed Buck for what he taught me. I am a better speaker for having met him, I am a much better writer. I am a more complete person for having been so scared of him. He really has helped me in my personal growth."

And almost everyone, friend and enemy, agrees that without Buck, there would have been no recall.

"One thing you can always say about Ed Buck: He will tackle nothing if it is not a challenge," said Mike Morgan, who was an unsuccessful candidate for state treasurer in 1986 and is now the executive director of the West Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. "But give him a challenge, and he will go after it with all his heart. ... No one could have pulled off that recall except Ed Buck."

Buck, who says individualist philosopher Ayn Rand is his inspiration, now is looking for a new challenge.

He said he has been urged several times to run for public office. He thinks campaigning would be fun, but he doesn't believe he would make a good officeholder.

"I am in the same position now as I was a year ago: public citizen," said Buck, a registered Republican.

"I believe I can do the most good in the position I hold. If I was holding elective office, I would be more restricted.

"For example, if I was a legislator, I would only be able to be involved in affairs of state, not municipal issues."

Buck says he is more interested in furthering issues than in holding office. He says he is a "strong supporter" of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers and the Phoenix Mountain Preserve and would "like to see something done about the homeless."

He labeled as "premature" a plan by a group of former Tucson recall workers to screen gubernatorial candidates and distribute their stands on the issues.

But Buck prefers not to think about the future for the recall. The recall drive is over, he says. Now he's thinking about his own future.

Asked about being a political strategist, Buck nodded and said, "Might be fun, might be fun."

He added that in the next several weeks, he wants to try getting his wiry body back into shape and take his golden retriever, Sly, on longer walks. He is considering a vacation in Hawaii, maybe even renting out his house for a couple of years and moving to Australia.

Buck, the youngest of four children who he says are all very different, has never done the expected. He figures, why become predictable now?

He muses about a year he spent after high school being a bum on the California beaches.

"I just spent a year on the beach trying to figure out who I was," Buck said.

"That's where I get my greatest joy, you know, talking with others and learning about myself. I think there's a lot I still don't know about myself." People who know him wonder if he will be comfortable fading into obscurity.

Helen Morgan said Buck stepped aside as the recall's leader in May and appointed Harward as the recall's chairwoman because he thought his sexuality was becoming too much of an issue.

Within a week, Buck re-emerged as the recall's spokesman.

"He promised to get out of the media, but he couldn't, he just couldn't," Morgan said. "I guess it was just the seduction of the star quality that he enjoys now."

Buck wonders, too, if he can relinquish his fame.

He talks about the ball at the Phoenix Hilton kicking off the recall.

"At first, we thought 500 people would come, but it seemed like it might be bigger, so we asked them to push back the walls for 1,000 people. That night, 2,000 people showed up.

"Have you ever been applauded by 2,000 people?" he asked, as if it were a common experience. "When I was introduced, I got a round of applause that was deafening. It was probably the only time in the campaign that I was unable to speak."