Posted on by Bruce
Annual DC Fly in to visit the Senators and Congressmen that are part of helping us gain WaterSense Designation for Automatic Swimming Pool Covers…as a water saving and life saving device.
This year…from left: Brendan Scanland (APSP/PHTA Government Relations Rep), LaMont Drechsel (VP/GM Coverpools), Bruce Grogg (President Stone Edge Surfaces, CEO TLT Consulting, Latham Pool Products representative), Tom Dankel (VP Aquamatic), Michael Schebek (CEO Automatic Pool Covers, Inc).
99% of the U.S. automatic swimming pool cover manufacturing, is represented in this picture…as the 5 major brands are represented here: CoverStar, Pool Cover Specialists “PCS”, Coverpools, Aquamatic and Automatic Pool Covers Inc “APC”
Our yearly trips include meeting with our Congressional supporters as well.
You may be wondering how we chose the specific Senators and Congressmen we aligned ourselves with…it was completely non partisan…but we did go after the ones that were representing the States where we all have our factories. Indiana, New York, Utah, and California were the main targets, because our factories account for about 2,000 jobs…and thousands more small service and installation companies in all 50 States.
This is Senator Susan Brooks of Indiana.
We also met with Senator Ben McAdams of Utah, and we met with the offices of:
  • Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) Rep. Wasserman Schultz was an original sponsor of the VGB Act, and remains focused on pool safety issues.  She is also a senior Member of the House Appropriations, Subcmte on Energy and Water…which sets the funding for the EPA
  • Paul Tonko (D-NY)
  • Jimmy Panetta (D-CA)
  • Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Senate Appropriations, Subcmte on Energy and Water.
  • Mitt Romney (R-UT)
I’m happy to say that all of the senators and congressmen we met with have been supporting us on this quest for the past few years and have made calls to the EPA, and sent written requests that were co-signed by several senators. It’s been a pretty incredible ride and I’m loving every minute of it!
I have to tell you…the best part of this trip was the camaraderie with this incredible group of gentlemen and powerful business leaders. It’s pretty cool when they have a toast…to me…for bringing all of the factories together…and ending almost 30 years of feuds, lawsuits and fighting that was incredibly expensive for all involved and horrible for the industry.
PCS (I was CEO of PCS from 2008 to 2014 when we were bought out by Latham) was always fighting with someone…all of it started before 2008, but as CEO…I had to deal with it.
After talking with our attorneys and adding up all the attorneys fees with a lawsuit between PCS and Aquamatic, and a counter suite by Aquamatic to PCS…I found that PCS had spent over $600,000 in attorneys fees…and at best, if we won, we would win $30,000???
When I saw that…I immediately called the ownership group and let them know that the pettiness and infighting was getting us…NOTHING…but had cost us more than HALF A MILLION DOLLARS…so far!
Once I got their attention…and stunned silence…I asked them if I could settle all the remaining law suits that seemed to be based more on bad blood between from the early days of the industry, or were based on The “Principal” of some old slight or hard feeling. They argued at first that it was the “principal”…nut when I asked “principal of what? What started the feud…not even they could remember and so granted my request to settle all suits and try and mend bridges. Anyway…that is a story for another time.
To get back on track…the best part of this years meeting was when Michael Shebek toasted and received immediate agreement from everyone in the group, that getting together each year, regardless if we ever get the watersense designation from the EPA…was fun, and he really enjoyed getting together with LaMont, Tom, and Me, (Carl our lobbyist too)…not just as  fellow industry factory owners…but as friends. And I…they toasted me…was thanked for making it all possible by offering the olive branch to each of them.