Lobbying Against FRSA Members’ Best Interest

In January, most or all FRSA members received at least three email messages from Cohen Battisti and Grossman (now Cohen and Grossman) attorneys, with the subject “we need you in Tallahassee!” This was about Senate Bill 596 that this law firm wanted us all to oppose BUT FRSA actually supports that bill.

After this, all FRSA members received a message from Lisa Pate explaining the messages from this law firm are NOT from or on behalf of FRSA and are not consistent with FRSA’s position.

There are three very important points I would like to make here.

First, what we saw with these messages from this law firm may look innocent, but it was not fair to use our membership to try to influence a legislative position that will benefit these lawyers and a few contractors who seem to be working with these lawyers. Asking you all to contact your legislators to vote the way the law firm wants to see the votes is about making money for the law firm.

Second, the law firm must be aware that it obtained a big list of email addresses for people who have not expressed an interest in getting emails from this law firm. Too many people who received these emails have not had any dealings or contact with this law firm, yet they are receiving these emails. It appears this law firm may have been given email addresses from someone inside our organization. If so, the law firm is well aware of that fact. FRSA members deserve more respect than that, and this law firm
should not have done this.

Third, FRSA membership is about the support, integrity, and advancement of the ROOFING industry, not the lawyer industry (no offense to any of us lawyers who are part of FRSA for all the right reasons – I am confident we would all agree with that statement).
Lawyers should not be asking roofing contractors to fight lawyer battles.

If you ever receive a message from some person or entity that is not FRSA that looks odd, confusing, or questionable to you, please ask us about it, especially before you respond to it.

Anna Cam Fentriss is an attorney licensed in Florida since 1988 representing clients with legislative and state agency interests. Cam has represented FRSA since 1993, is an Honorary Member of FRSA, recipient of the FRSA President’s Award and the Campanella Award in 2010. She is a member of the Florida Building Commission Special Occupancy Technical Advisory Committee, President of Building A Safer Florida Inc. and past Construction Coalition Chair (1995-1997).