WASHINGTON, D.C. - Attorney Matt Cartwright becomes the new congressman for Scranton and Wilkes-Barre today, and he got new shirts to mark the occasion, though he won't wear them as he takes the oath of office on the House floor.
Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11, Hazleton, visited Mr. Cartwright's new office Wednesday on the fourth floor of the Longworth Office Building and turned over the team jerseys donated to him two years ago by the former Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Because congressional district boundaries were rewritten last year, Mr. Barletta will no longer represent either city, so he thought the jerseys should go to Mr. Cartwright.
Mr. Barletta, who had displayed the jerseys in large picture frames in his Washington office, said he wanted to reach out to Mr. Cartwright and let him know "that maybe I can help with anything he needs when it comes to getting acclimated in Washington."
"I had wanted something that represented our area, and I thought he should have it so he had something that reminded him of home," he said.
Mr. Cartwright, 51, a Moosic Democrat, said he and Mr. Barletta joked about the Yankees jersey because the team has changed its nickname to the RailRiders.
"I said to him, 'Lou, you and I have to actually work together on getting rails to ride,' " Mr. Cartwright said, referring to his desire to return passenger train service to Northeast Pennsylvania. "He acknowledged that he was ceding that territory to me that covers the Penguins and the Yankees, and he was lamenting that he doesn't have any professional sports franchises in his new district.
"Mr. Barletta and I agree on almost nothing politically, but he gets it. You reach out; you make friendships. No one is more committed to Democratic, progressive ideals than I am, but I like people, and Republicans are people, too."
New district
Mr. Cartwright is scheduled to take the oath of office at noon as the first congressman in a newly written district that includes the region's two largest cities, plus Carbondale, Pittston and neighboring parts of Lackawanna, Luzerne and Monroe counties.
As Mr. Cartwright begins his first term in the U.S. House representing the 17th Congressional District, Mr. Barletta and fellow Republican Rep. Tom Marino, R-10, Lycoming Twp., will be sworn in for their second two-year terms.
In the U.S. Senate, Sen. Bob Casey of Scranton will be sworn in for a second six-year term.
The jobs pay $174,000 a year.
"There's a tremendous sense of responsibility. I represent more than 700,000 people here in Washington," Mr. Cartwright said while sitting in the lobby of a Washington hotel on the eve of his swearing-in.
Redistricting - the rewriting of congressional district boundary lines done after every census - shuffled the shape of local congressional districts.
Now, three congressmen instead of two represent the farthest northeast part of Pennsylvania.
Though today is his official first day, Mr. Cartwright began preparing weeks ago. He attended a post-election orientation session for freshman congressman in Washington in early December and later a preparatory course at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Mr. Cartwright also established his first congressional office at 226 Wyoming Ave. in Scranton. Others are in the works.
The congressman-elect also interviewed and hired top staff members, keeping in mind that he wanted people with "a boatload of experience."
"I want to be the only one on a learning curve in my office," Mr. Cartwright, 51, of Moosic, said in a recent interview. "Because I don't doubt that there are many pratfalls in Congress I hope not to fall into."
The staff includes:
- Hunter Ridgway as his chief of staff. Mr. Ridgway served the past 15 years as chief of staff to Rep. John Olver, a Massachusetts Democrat, a native of Wayne County and the most senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. Like Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Ridgway trained as a lawyer, earning his law degree from Southern Methodist University in 1990. He specialized in economic development matters for Mr. Olver.
- Jeremy Marcus as legislative director. Mr. Marcus worked for U.S. Sens. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and John Kerry of Massachusetts. Mr. Marcus is an honors graduate with two degrees from Stanford University. Most recently he was legislative director for Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-Mo.
- Bob Morgan, of Fairview Twp., Luzerne County, as district director. A King's College graduate, Mr. Morgan has spent 25 years in the financial services industry.
- William Hanley as senior economic development specialist who will handle special projects including grant writing. Mr. Hanley, who lives in Pottsville, has worked for 20 years with Rep. Tim Holden, whom Mr. Cartwright defeated for the Democratic nomination in the primary election in April.
- Shane Seaver as communications director and chief spokesman. Mr. Seaver, who has a master's degree in public administration from West Chester University, managed Mr. Cartwright's election campaign.
Mr. Cartwright already has received his first committee assignment. He will be a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
For Mr. Marino and Mr. Barletta, today will arrive with less fanfare than January 2011 when they were sworn in for their first terms.
They'll both start the day the same way with a Mass celebrated by a friend, Monsignor John W. Jordan, at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church on Second Street NE, not far from the Capitol.
Unlike two years ago when busloads of friends came down to Washington, Mr. Barletta said only immediate family members will join him. He will host them in a new office at 115 Cannon House Office Building.
Redistricting has meant substantial changes for Mr. Barletta, who will no longer represent any of Lackawanna County but has added Wyoming County from Mr. Marino's district. Last month, Mr. Barletta closed his Taylor and Plains Twp. offices because both municipalities are part of Mr. Cartwright's district.
Mr. Barletta said his closest permanent office will remain at 1 S. Church S., Suite 100, Hazleton. He also announced new offices in Cumberland, Dauphin and Northumberland counties.
Temporary offices
For people in Wyoming County and distant parts of the district without a permanent office, Mr. Barletta is planning to establish temporary locations and set times when staff members can periodically meet with constituents.
"The redrawn 11th District is very large, and I want to make sure my constituents don't have to travel very far to go into a congressional office," Mr. Barletta said.
A new Congress also means a new committee assignment for Mr. Barletta.
He has been appointed to the Homeland Security Committee, which oversees border security, anti-terrorism efforts and disaster responses. Most importantly to him, the committee will have a huge say in a new immigration law.
"I'm going to make sure that my voice is part of that discussion and make sure that they do it ... in the proper way and that's to secure the borders first," Mr. Barletta said.
Mr. Barletta also will remain a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Education and the Workforce Committee. He will no longer be on the Small Business Committee.
With Wyoming County now part of Mr. Barletta's district, Mr. Marino has closed his Tunkhannock offices, but opened a new office in Wayne County. Residents may still call the Tunkhannock office's main line at 836-8020 for help.
The new Wayne County office will open March 1 at 543 Easton Turnpike, Suite 101, in Hamlin. Until then, Mr. Marino's staff will have an office in the Dimmick Building of the Wayne County Courthouse at 925 Court St., Honesdale.
Mr. Marino's committee assignments remain the same - Foreign Affairs, Homeland Security and Judiciary.
Unlike Mr. Barletta, who like Mr. Cartwright planned to go through the staged swearing-in ceremony with House Speaker John Boehner after the official one on the House floor, Mr. Marino was forgoing the staged ceremony this time and keeping his day low-key compared to two years ago when a host of family, friends and supporters traveled here to celebrate his first day in office.
Mr. Marino, 60, whose Washington home is his congressional office where he sleeps on an air mattress, said the last-minute deal to keep the nation from falling off the "fiscal cliff" meant he couldn't spend New Year's Eve with his family for the first time.
"I'm looking forward to spending some time with my family," he said, assuming the House adjourns for the weekend. "It's highly frustrating because of what is going on on both sides of the aisle."
For Mr. Casey, his swearing-in for a second term will arrive with a whole lot less fanfare than 2006 when he defeat Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, one of the Senate's top ranked Republicans, in a race that received national attention.
This year, Mr. Casey, 52, of Scranton, defeated Republican tea party candidate Tom Smith in a race that grew close at one point, but that he eventually won handily. In 2006, Mr. Casey celebrated taking the oath of office with two parties, one for close friends and family, and one at the Hyatt Regency with the many people who helped him. Today, fellow Scranton native, Vice President Joseph Biden, will swear him in on the Senate floor, then again later in a staged ceremony in the Old Senate Chamber. Former Sen. Harris Wofford, whom Mr. Casey's father, Gov. Robert P. Casey, appointed to the Senate in 1991, will escort Mr. Casey to the oath-taking.
"I know my way around the (Senate) building now," he joked of the difference between now and then. "But, no, it's a great honor to be able to serve again."
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