U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-17, announced the opening of his new office in Pottsville on Tuesday.
The office at 121 Progress Ave., Suite 310, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and is staffed by Bill Hanley, Pottsville, U.S. Rep. Tim Holden's former district projects director, and Schuylkill County resident Sabrina McLaughlin.
The office will primarily focus on local economic development and advocacy regarding individuals' issues with Social Security, Medicare, the IRS, veterans' benefits and other federal programs.
Hanley said Tuesday that while they are open and have been in the office for about a week now, the office is still being put together.
While Hanley didn't want to make any comparisons to working with Holden, he said that working with Cartwright has been going well.
"Matt's been aggressive," he said. "He has basically hit the ground running from the standpoint of constituent service."
McLaughlin wasn't in the office Tuesday, as she was involved in a fender bender Monday night due to the inclement weather when heading home to Sheppton.
According to Shane Seaver, communications director for Cartwright, McLaughlin was born in Northeastern Pennsylvania and graduated from Wilkes University in 2004. She attended graduate school in upstate New York and earned a master's degree in English literature from Binghamton University in 2007. From 2008 until recently, she worked professionally in electoral politics, and is also a former community college composition and rhetoric instructor.
"My team and I are here to hold government accountable to folks in Schuylkill and Carbon counties, and our centrally-located Pottsville office will help us provide the best constituent advocacy possible," Cartwright said in a prepared statement. "I am excited to work with both Bill and Sabrina. Bill has been a strong advocate on behalf of Schuylkill County, working to bring economic and fire grants to the area. The two will work together on behalf of Carbon and Schuylkill counties to service the needs of constituents."
Hanley said that in addition to the Pottsville office, they are in the process of opening offices in Easton and Wilkes-Barre. There is already an office in Scranton.
A ribbon cutting with the Pottsville Area Development Corp., Pottsville Mayor John D.W. Reilly and Cartwright will be held at 10:30 a.m. April 8.
The morning before the ribbon cutting, Cartwright will be speaking to government students at 9 a.m. at Pottsville Area High School.
For more information, call the office at 570-624-0140.
