Mourning Frank Turner and John Davey, the other Wes Moore and the other Josh Kurtz, more notes

Former Del. Frank S. Turner (D), who represented Howard County in the House of Delegates for two dozen years, died early Friday morning, House Ways and Means Chair Vanessa E. Atterbeary (D-Howard) told her colleagues during that day’s floor session. He was 77.

Choking back tears, Atterbeary, who has known Turner since she was in elementary school, said she had no information Friday about the cause of death or other pertinent details, though she acknowledged that “he had some health challenges lately.”

No formal obituary information had been released about Turner as of Friday afternoon.

Turner is considered the first Black member of the General Assembly from Howard County and was a leader in the Legislative Black Caucus. But he admitted through the years that because he was adopted as a baby, he wasn’t altogether sure of his race and ethnicity.

Turner was elected to the House from District 13 in 1994. He served on three different committees over the years, becoming vice chair of Ways and Means from 2013 to 2019. Atterbeary recalled that Turner jokingly referred to the tax-writing panel as “Ways and Schemes.”

For most of his career, Turner was a professor in the business school at Morgan State University, but he also filled several political and civic roles before his election to the legislature.

He was deputy campaign manager for U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) during her first victorious statewide election in 1986, and later served as a special assistant to the senator on small business issues for six years. He was also a member of the Howard County Industrial Development Authority in the 1980s and served on the Howard County Orphan’s Court in 1990.

After retiring from the House in 2019, Turner served on the Howard Community College Board of Trustees, and on the state’s Sports Wagering Application Review Commission.

Another death in the political family

State House and Prince George’s County political insiders this week are mourning John Davey, a former Circuit Court judge and political heavyweight who died Monday following a seven-week battle with aggressive glioblastoma, a type of cancer. He was 72.

Davey spent a dozen years on the bench, after being appointed by then-Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and also serving as a senior judge. But he was just as well known as a plugged-in lawyer and political operative with close ties to Parris N. Glendening (D), the former governor and Prince George’s County executive, serving at one point as the county government’s chief administrative officer under Glendening.

Davey later became managing director at the Beltsville law firm O’Malley, Miles, Nylen & Gilmore, P.A, one of the oldest and most prestigious in Prince George’s, where he represented and advised a number of major business and development clients.

As a 12-year board member of the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority, Davey helped secure funding for the expansion of Metro’s Blue Line deep into Prince George’s County. He also served on numerous boards and commissions, including the Greater Washington Board of Trade, where his time coincided with the construction of the Intercounty Connector highway and the new Major League Baseball stadium in Washington, D.C., two Board of Trade priorities.

Davey also served on the Federal City Council and on the Maryland Economic Development Commission.

“John Davey was a giant in the political, legal and civic life of metropolitan Washington,” Len Foxwell, a former Glendening administration official and Davey protege, wrote on Facebook this week.

Davey is survived by his wife of 49 years, the former Andrea Galenas; three daughters, Megan Davey Limarzi, Kate Davey and Ellen Davey Walter; five grandchildren; and nine siblings.

Visitation will take place Sunday from 3-6 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Rockville. A Mass to celebrate Davey’s life will be held at the same church on Monday at 11:30 a.m. Interment will be private at a later date.

As the Annapolis lobbying world turns

The husband-and-wife team of Josh Bokee and Katie Nash, two familiar faces in Annapolis and Maryland political and policy circles, are starting their own consulting firm.

They are describing the new venture, Spires and Light Consulting, as a management and growth firm dedicated to technology for good, and nonprofit and community achievement. The firm will be based out of Annapolis and Frederick, where Nash serves as a city alderwoman.

“Spires and Light is my new platform for engaging in meaningful projects with measurable outcomes,” Bokee said.

The firm will focus on government affairs, project design and management, and sales and event/meeting support. Spires and Light Consulting is committed to “doing well by doing good” and seeks partners who also strive for equity, innovation and fair and effective business practices, the company said in a statement.

Bokee, who also served on the Frederick County Council, is a former government relations representative for Comcast, and created a nonprofit centered on opening digital opportunity for all.

Nash has been a lobbyist with Fiastro Consulting, focusing mainly on energy issues in Annapolis, but stepped away from the firm last month.

PDAB expansion passes first committee hurdle

Legislation to expand the Prescription Drug Affordability Board’s authority to lower prescription drug costs for more Marylanders will be heading to the full House floor for consideration, following committee approval Friday.

PDAB is currently tasked with lowering prescription drug costs for those on the state’s health insurance plan. But House Bill 424 would expand the board’s authority to set what are called upper-payment limits on prescription drugs in the commercial market. Doing so would limit how much drug purchasers could spend on certain medications, which supporters of the bill hope would result in savings for Marylanders.

Insurers “are required by law to spend 20% or less on any premium dollar on administration. No more than that. Meaning if their costs go down, their premiums have to go down,” Del. Bonnie Cullison (D-Montgomery) told the committee Friday. “That’s the way this bill affects commercial markets and how it would be a direct benefit to consumers.

“We wish the commercial market and the competitive market would have worked. It hasn’t. And pharmaceutical costs are out of control,” said Cullison, who co-sponsored the bill with Del. Jennifer White Holland (D-Baltimore County).

The bill was approved by the Health and Government Operations Committee over the opposition of Republican committee members. The committee did add a couple amendments to ensure that the board’s work would not affect medications provided under Medicaid, or reimbursements related to certain federal programs.

Del. Matthew Morgan (R-St. Mary’s) said Republicans fear setting upper payment limits could have the “potential of rationing medications that our constituents desperately need.”

Similar legislation was filed last year, but did not get a committee vote in either the House or Senate. Lawmakers then raised concerns that in the years since its creation in 2019, PDAB had not brought down costs for prescription drugs for those on the state health plan, so expanding the board’s authority would be premature. This session, the board is a bit further along.

Six drugs were selected for a cost review process to see if they are unaffordable for Marylanders. Depending on the results of that review, the board would then look cost reduction efforts, which include upper payment limits among other options.

The other Josh Kurtz’s exit interview

And now for a moment of personal privilege, as they say in the General Assembly.

Friday marked the departure of Josh Kurtz, the founding editor of Maryland Matters.

For the last few years, we’ve had some fun with the confusion that sometimes arises from the veteran journalist sharing a name with the Maryland secretary of the Department of Natural Resources.

Our Josh has been the unintentional recipient of emails and texts and voicemails and invitations from lobbyists that were meant for his namesake in state government. Lord only knows what kinds of news tips were misdirected to the secretary or came in at odd hours.

On Friday, Kurtz, the veteran journalist, was the subject of an exit interview by  Gov. Wes Moore (D) — author before his political career of “The Other Wes Moore.”

Turn about is fair play, as they say. So the other Wes Moore interviewed the other Josh Kurtz, who retired Friday, about his career in the State House and journalism, the changes he’s seen and what might lie in the future.

For now, Josh has adjourned sine die. We wish him all the best. And, we miss him already.