Biography
Persuaded by the adage "Even if you're not interested in politics, politics is interested in YOU," Linda went to Washington after college to work for a congressman and learn the way politics worked from the inside.
She was a congressional staffer for 14 years, the last seven as director of the Environmental and Energy Study Conference, a part of Congress that provided legislative reporting and analysis. Year after year, 90 of 100 Senators and nearly 300 House members subscribed.
When the Center for Responsive Politics surveyed lawmakers and their staffs on the effectiveness of Congress, its report read, "When asked about the quality of caucus information, one group, the Environmental and Energy Study Conference, received so much praise a separate category had to be created."
When EESC lost its funding in 1995, Linda and the entire EESC staff privatized the publications as Congressional Green Sheets, with Linda as the company's president. After 10 years, Green Sheets was purchased by Congressional Quarterly, and Linda and her colleagues joined the CQ staff.
At CQ, Linda initially was associate editor, compiling and writing morning news summaries. Later, she was editor of CQ Green Sheets.
At the end of 2007, Linda was charged with developing First Light, a first-thing-in-the-morning speed summary of the top news, ideas and trends of interest to Congress and those who want to influence it.
Because of changes at CQ, First Light was switched off; and Linda's Citizen Cartwright blog now is making available to the general public what previously was available only to subscribers paying big bucks.
Linda hopes you'll join her in staying on top of the ways politics is interested in all of us.