Pool Cartoons In Legislative Waters

By: Dave Astor Updated at 12:50 p.m., July 26

A legislator is using facts, persuasion, citizen outrage and ... comic strips ... in an effort to crack down on unscrupulous swimming-pool dealers and installers.

"I find that humor is a great tool in politics," said Massachusetts State Rep. Paul E. Caron, D-Springfield. "Of course, when [pool problems] happen in real life, it's not funny."

But there's humor in "The Buckets," which, since the spring, has featured a recurring storyline showing its cartoon family experiencing pool-construction hell. Caron, an avid cartoon reader, told E&P Online he spotted the series and received permission to use it in his lawmaking effort. Some of the strips were mounted on a board during a July 23 hearing on the legislation in Boston. And Caron has included copies of the comic in his correspondence about the matter.

The Democratic representative's legislation would, among other things, require that anyone who sells, installs, repairs, or renovates pools be licensed by the state's Department of Public Safety and carry liability insurance. Also, pool dealers who subcontract out the work or refer customers to independent contractors would be required to cover the contractors' work on their liability insurance. There have been a number of cases where dealers sell pools and then refuse to take responsibility for problems caused by the contractors who actually build them.

Caron thinks the legislation will be approved, but noted that possible passage may be at least a couple of months away.

"The Buckets," which began in 1990 and now runs in about 110 newspapers worldwide, is by Scott Stantis and Greg Cravens of United Media.

How did Stantis react to Caron's interest in the series? "It was a pleasant surprise," said the cartoonist, who was having a pool built at his house as he wrote the strips. Stantis told E&P Online that, while there were some construction delays, the firm he used is reputable. But he's heard "a lot of horror stories" from people dealing with various kinds of contractors.

Stantis is also an editorial cartoonist for the Birmingham (Ala.) News and Copley News Service as well as president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.