Congressmember Adam Schiff (left) with California Democratic Chairman Eric Bauman (right) share a moment with Democratic donor Ed Buck.
Below is a partial list of recipients of campaign donations from Democratic donor Ed Buck and in the wake of Gemmel Moore's death who following scandal, have refused to return that money in it's entirety to a fund set up to support Moore's family and the victims of Ed Buck in the quest for justice. Not only have the recipients refused to return Buck's dirty money--but they won't even publicly acknowledge the death of Gemmel Moore in Buck's house or the circumstances around it.
To date, only one person has returned the entire amount of money that they received from Ed Buck back to Gemmel Moore's family and that is Los Angeles Congressmember Karen Bass (D-California).
Gemmel Moore, 27, was found dead of a crystal meth overdose in Democratic donor Ed Buck’s West Hollywood home on July 27. His death was immediately classified as an accidental methamphetamine overdose by the coroner but now the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s homicide bureau is taking a closer look after Moore’s personal journal was published.
In his journal, Moore wrote, “I honestly don’t know what to do. I’ve become addicted to drugs and the worst one at that,” a December entry reads. “Ed Buck is the one to thank. He gave me my first injection of crystal meth it was very painful, but after all the troubles, I became addicted to the pain and fetish/fantasy.”
“My life is at an alltime [sic] high right now & I mean that from all ways. I ended up back at Buck [sic] house again and got munipulated [sic] into slamming again. I even went to the point where I was forced to doing 4 within a 2day [sic] period. This man is crazy and its [sic] sad. Will I ever get help?”
“Slamming” refers to gay men injecting drugs such as mephedrone, GHB, or crystal meth.
Moore’s last entry, dated December 3, 2016, reads, “If it didn’t hurt so bad, I’d kill myself, but I’ll let Ed Buck do it for now.”
Since Moore’s journal was published, other young gay black men have come forward with photos, emails, and text messages recounting similar stories involving Buck and accusing him of being a sexual predator, kidnapping, forced drug use, injecting unconscious black gay men with crystal meth, filing false police reports to cover his crimes, coercion, pimping, and pandering.
Similar to movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, Ed Buck is a well-known contributor to the Democratic Party and has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic causes and candidates over the years. His Facebook page boasts dozens of photos of him with such luminaries as presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, California Gov. Jerry Brown, California Democratic Party chairman Eric Bauman, and even Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Campaign finance records show that Buck has given at least $30,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Locally, the money has been spread around to members of Congress and the state legislature, and even Los Angeles’s city and district attorneys — the two offices responsible for filing criminal charges in cases like this.
Clubs, Committees and PACs
Animal PAC/Social Compassion in Legislation for Animals – $95,629.06 Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee – $30,000 Democratic State Central Committee – $2,600 Equality California PAC – $3,250 Getting Stuff Done PAC – $10,000 House Majority PAC – $5,000 Los Angeles County Central Democratic Committee – $2,000 Planned Parenthood Advocacy Project LA County Action Fund – $390 Ready PAC – $1,000 Stonewall Democratic Club – $13,725 (Made a contribution towards Gemmel Moore's funeral) Stonewall Young Democrats – $4,750 United for a Strong America PAC- $500
Federal
Hillary for America – $2,950 Ready for Hillary – $1,000 Obama for America – $1,500 U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly (D-Indiana) – $1,000 Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) – $2,700 Rep. Bryan Caforio For Congress (D-California) – $1,000 Rep. Jacky Rosen for Nevada (D-Nevada) – $1,000 Rep. Jerry McNeary (D-California) – $5,750 Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-California) – $2,000 Rep. Julia Brownley (D-California) – $100 Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) – $7,700 Rep. Lucibal Roybal-Allard (D-California) – $1,000 Rep. Peter Aguilar (D-California) – $1,000 Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois) – $1,000 Rep. Ted Lieu (D-California) – $20,100 Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-California) – $1,000
State
Governor Jerry Brown – $2,000 Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom – $2,100 State Controller Betty Yee (via Animal PAC) – $250 Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) – $11,900 Senator Anthony Portantino (D-Glendale) – $10,800 Senator Ben Allen (D-Redondo Beach) – $1,000 Senator Henry Stern (D-Calabasas) – $9,400 Assemblymember Blanca Rubio (D-Chino) – $1,000 Assemblymember John Perez (ret.) – $18,500 Assemblymember Matt Dababneh (D-Van Nuys) – $1,500 Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles) – $500 Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) – $2,500
Los Angeles
Judge Songhai D. Miguda-Armstead – $250 Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey – $100 Los Angeles County Assessor Jeffrey Prang – $18,750 Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti – $1,400 Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer – $11,300 Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin – $5,000 Los Angeles Councilmember Bob Blumenfield – $3,100 Los Angeles Councilmember Gil Cedillo – $1,400 Los Angeles Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell – $4,200 Los Angeles Councilmember Paul Koretz – $2,200 Los Angeles Councilmember Paul Krekorian – $2,200 Scott Svonkin, Los Angeles Community College District – $1,000
Sydney Kamlager, Los Angeles Community College District – $500
Gloria Gray, Secretary, West Basin Municipal Water District – $1,500
Scott Houston, Vice-President, West Basin Municipal Water District – $500
West Hollywood
West Hollywood City Councilmember John Duran – $24,700 West Hollywood City Councilmember John D’Amico – $38,700 (Donated $25 to Gemmel Moore's funeral) West Hollywood City Councilmember John Heilman – $2,000 West Hollywood City Councilmember Lauren Meister – $2,500
Sources: Federal Election Committee, Open Secrets, Cal-Access, The City of West Hollywood