Frank Buck (politician)

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Rep. Frank Buck

Frank Forrest Buck (born September 26, 1943 in Trousdale County) is a Tennessee politician and a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives for the 40th district, which is composed of DeKalb, Smith, and Macon counties.

He has served as a member of the House since the 89th General Assembly and was most recently re-elected as a member of the Democratic Party. Frank Buck is Vice-Chair of the House Transportation Committee and the Chair of the House Public Transportation & Highways Subcommittee. He serves as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, the House Judicial Administration Subcommittee, and the House Criminal Practice and Procedure Subcommittee.

Buck graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Tennessee Technological University and graduated with a J.D. from University of Tennessee Law School. He works as a farmer and as an attorney, owning a law practice with his wife called Buck & Buck near Smithville. In 1990, Frank Buck narrowly lost to Bill Purcell in a bid for the position of House majority leader.

Buck is known for efforts on ethics reform, though critics accuse him of showboating while other legislators seek reform more quietly, and of only recently finding ethics in order to use the issue against political enemies. He exposed a whiskey-for-votes racket operating in DeKalb County and helped to bring reform as a member of the DeKalb County Ethics Commission. In 1994, he took issue with the expense of different execution methods reported by Department of Correction officials that placed a firing-squad execution at $7,000.

In 1993 and 1994, Buck introduced legislation that would have restrained lobbyists from giving gifts and paying travel expenses of members of the General Assembly, and forced more disclosure of such acts. In 1994, he sponsored a bill introduced by former Sen. Carol Rice that became known as the "cup-of-coffee" bill, which would have prevented legislators from taking so much as a cup of coffee from lobbyists. A version of it was passed in 1995 -- without Buck as a sponsor -- with a loophole that allowed legislators to receive free meals and drinks if another legislator is invited.