Buck Wood Death | Obituary – Champion of Texas election law and ethics, Buck Wood age 75 passed away on Thursday 9th of July.
Buck Wood, a champion of Texas’ poorest school districts who helped draft ethics and election laws that continue to guide governments of all shapes and sizes in Texas, died Thursday.
To many, Wood, had been the go-to expert on election law for decades. His career spanned more than a half-century as he worked side-by-side with many of Texas’ legends in the Democratic Party, including Bob Bullock and Ann Richards.
Virtually every prominent Texas Democrat of the past 50 years either knew or worked with Wood, whose encyclopedic knowledge of election law arcana was without rival, friends said.
“He was just a compendium of information,” said Dave Richards, ex-husband of Ann Richards and a longtime colleague of Wood’s. “He was a constant source of good advice and goodwill.”
A Texas native, Randall Buck Wood was born in Athens and raised in Edom. He went to Van High School and attended Tyler Junior College and the University of Texas, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history.
Wood got his law degree at UT and almost immediately put it to use in election law. It was there that he met state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, whose husband, Carlos, also started law school there in 1965.
“We all partied together and were all broke together and became great friends,” Zaffirini said. “We always referred clients to him when we had good Democrats that had election issues.”
From 1969 to 1972, Wood served as director of the elections division office under then-Secretary of State Bullock. There, Wood was charged with enforcing the state’s election laws.
Wood then became the Texas director of Common Cause, a nonpartisan nonprofit that aimed to reform election laws across Texas. At the time, the statehouse was notorious for opaque campaign finance laws that sometimes had lobbyists with checkbooks ready in the Capitol gallery to influence votes.
During that time, Wood worked closely with House Speaker Price Daniel Jr. to enact sweeping election and campaign finance reform.
“We went from one of the worst states in the union on ethics and election law to one of the best in one session,” said Garry Mauro, a four-term commissioner at the General Land Office, who met Wood during Bullock’s run for state comptroller in 1975.
After Bullock’s election to the comptroller, Wood ascended to second-in-command at the office.
His work in private practice is also renowned. Wood’s tenacious litigation over the years in a series of Edgewood school finance lawsuits and other cases put him in front of the Texas Supreme Court dozens of times.
The series of cases earned far more equity for the state’s poorest school districts.
And several state lawmakers have Wood to thank for their political fortunes, intervening in numerous elections, including that of state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, in 2011.
“Buck Wood was the conscience enforcer of state government,” said John Sharp, chancellor of the Texas A&M University System. “He always knew more about ethics laws than anyone else, and it was not possible to have a better friend.”
More recently, Wood sued former Secretary of State David Whitley over a botched attempt to purge immigrants from Texas’ voter rolls.
Our deepest condolence to the family and friends of Buck Wood, may his gentle soul rest in peace.