I was recently approached by the Senate Conservative Fund to be included in a TV ad regarding my concerns about Sen. Mark Pryor and the state of our economy.
I honestly do not know how they got my name or chose me. However, I am a firm believer that wrong reasoning will lead to wrong conclusions. This is evident in our federal government, and has been for decades. Unfortunately our legislative and executive branches of government, including Sen. Pryor, seem to believe that for every problem there should be new legislation, rather than looking at past legislation to see what mistakes were made.
I am a small businessman who barely survived the economic meltdown in 2008-09. Like many businesses during the early 2000s, we grew dramatically to the point that we had to build a second factory in North Little Rock, and our employee count was pushing 100.
Unfortunately, the downturn(which really started much earlier), drove our sales down dramatically, forcing us to sell our new building and lay off a significant number of employees. Our bank “called” our line of credit and the day we were supposed to be shutdown, I persuaded the chairman of the bank to not foreclose on our business. Most of the management took significant pay cuts (I took an 85 percent cut) just to keep the business going. That is what I believe owners are supposed to do to keep their businesses going.
The point of my statement in the video was that Sen. Pryor has voted for several bills that have turned out to be job-killers rather than job creators. Legislation such as the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare, has already shown that it is neither affordable nor quality care. Small businesses are trying to hire part-time workers or temporary workers to stay under the minimum 50 employees that would require Obamacare implementation.
Pryor also voted for the “Employee Free Choice Act,” also referred to as “Card Check,” which would have allowed, if passed, the employees of a company to invite unions into the company and to decide if they want to unionize. Even though Arkansas is a right-to-work state.
Why would Sen. Pryor vote for such a draconian change to Arkansas law? Could it be that he has received substantial donations from the unions? Why would he want Little Rock to become another Detroit? This sounds good for the employees, but if already fragile companies cannot afford the increased wages and benefits, they will be forced out of business and employees will lose their jobs.
Since that TV ad, Sen. Pryor has made claims about me that I must clarify. He complained that, somehow, I am a hypocrite for accepting “stimulus funds” to help develop a new alternative energy business (Ecomembrane LLC) in the Little Rock area. We started it in our existing factory where we also make residential/commercial decking products, and residential and commercial swimming pools. Both of these companies were affected by the economic downturn and it has been a hard struggle to survive in businesses that focus on middle-income families.
The truth is, when the head of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission learned about our new alternative energy product, she sent a group of four people to my factory to learn about this “biogas energy” product. They encouraged me to apply to the commission for a grant. I applied and received the grant (later to learn it was part of the federal stimulus plan).
We did, in fact, receive a $315,000grant to purchase a very sophisticated computer-controlled cutting table, a large 15-kilowatt dielectric welder, and hire a new engineer. At the end of that project, I wanted to, in effect, return about $30,000 that we didn’t need. The folks at the development commission were not sure how to do that, claiming that they hadn’t experienced unspent funds before. Ultimately, they graciously took the money back. Later the commission nominated our biogas company for the “2011 Innovator of the Year Award” from the Southern Growth Board (a group of 13 Southern states). We were honored to receive the award.
Today, our pool business is growing slowly. Our decking business is growing moderately, but our biogas business is growing rapidly. However, because of the uncertainty about the Affordable Care Act and the new revelations about the cost, we are scared to death to bring on new employees.
Obamacare and Card Check, along with the Dodd-Frank laws (which created difficulties for businesses to secure loans for their operation) are not friendly laws for struggling businesses, or for unemployed fellow Arkansans. Rather, they have prolonged high unemployment and a stagnant economy while business owners try to understand the unintended consequences of the draconian laws or potential laws coming out of Washington, D.C.
Bottom line: This coming election is not about Bill Shroyer. It really is about Sen. Pryor and his voting record.
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William L Shroyer is chairman of Little Rock Holdings Inc.
Editorial, Pages 17 on 06/20/2013