13 Facts About Karen McCarthy

Karen McCarthy was an American educator and politician.

Karen McCarthy served as the US representative for the fifth district of Missouri from 1995 to 2005.

Karen McCarthy became a ranking party member in the state House, serving on numerous committees including chairman of Ways and Means, and a member of the Appropriations and Energy committees.

Karen McCarthy served as the first female president of the National Conference of State Legislatures in 1994.

Karen McCarthy won a crowded six-way primary, and then defeated Republican Ron Freeman with 56 percent of the vote.

Karen McCarthy served on the Energy and Commerce committee and the Select Committee on Homeland Security as the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence and Counterterrorism subcommittee.

Karen McCarthy announced in 2003 that she would not run for a sixth term in 2004 after revealing that she suffered from alcoholism.

Karen McCarthy served as co-chair of the Missouri Commission of Global Climate Change, an extensive two-year study of scientific data to develop environmental and economic policy options for state action.

Karen McCarthy was a congressional representative to the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change and a Harvard fellow at the Institute of Politics at the John F Kennedy School of Government "The Politics of Alternative Energies", in the fall of 1982.

In December 2003, Karen McCarthy announced that she would not seek another term in the House.

Karen McCarthy was succeeded by Emanuel Cleaver, a fellow Democrat.

Karen McCarthy returned to Kansas City, Missouri, where she sat on a number of boards and was an active fundraiser and sponsor for a variety of cultural and political activities.

In June 2009, her family revealed that Karen McCarthy was suffering from an advanced form of Alzheimer's disease and was residing in a nursing home.