Ken Buck backed off a statement Friday that he made last year arguing against the popular election of U.S. Senators, suggesting a possible repeal of the 17th Amendment:
In a brief phone call to the Huffington Post, Buck said that he did not favor repealing the 17th Amendment, which allows the public, not state legislatures, to vote on who represents them in the Senate. As late as June 2009, Buck had held the opposite view, telling the Pikes Peak Economics Club, that the American public needed to be educated “about the populist nature of the 17th Amendment and how it has taken us down the wrong path.”
“I don’t know that we get [repeal] tomorrow, but I think we get there in the very near future when people understand just what a horrendous effect the 17th amendment has been on the federal government’s spending.”
Reached by phone on Friday afternoon, Buck explained that immediately after delivering those remarks, he rethought his position on the 17th Amendment debate. Since then, he stressed, he has been opposed to the notion of repeal.
“It is not a position I still hold and it wasn’t a position I held a day later when I called back the guy who asked the question and talked to him about the issue and reflected more on it,” Buck said. “It doesn’t make sense to repeal the 17th amendment and I have said it a dozen of times.” [emphasis added]
Video from Buck’s statement on the 17th Amendment from last year: