House Speaker Busch Laid to Rest

Michael Erin Busch (D), the longest-serving speaker in the history of the Maryland House of Delegates, was remembered at services Tuesday as a JFK Democrat whose life was shaped by strong women, his Irish Catholic faith and a near-obsession with sports.

A fixture of the General Assembly for more than three decades, half spent as presiding officer, Busch’s guiding principles, admirers said, included a belief that the government should work for everyone, not just the well-off or the well-connected.

His funeral, at St. John Neumann Church in Annapolis, brought together nearly everyone from Maryland politics — Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) and Lt. Gov. Boyd K. Rutherford (R), Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D), Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp (D), former governors Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) and Martin O’Malley (D), Sens. Benjamin L. Cardin (D) and Chris Van Hollen (D), Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D), virtually the entire legislature, and a bevy of past and present political leaders from his home county, Anne Arundel, and beyond.

Hogan told the crowd of more than 1,000 mourners that the late speaker, who died April 7 at age 72, was a “strong pillar” of state government.

Read more: https://www.marylandmatters.org/2019/04/16/house-speaker-busch-laid-to-rest/