The proposal had already been sent back to committee once after reaching the full council due to growing skepticism about the future viability of a company that has never turned a profit in its two decades of existence and was scheduled for a vote by the council at next Monday's meeting when the class action lawsuit with damning allegations was filed against the company. The lawsuit, in essence, claims the company's consumer ratings have more to do with advertising fees paid by the service providers it rates than actual reviews made of the service providers by its paid consumer members. Naturally, the Gannett-owned Indianapolis Star accepts the faux reasoning offered by the company's CEO for putting its taxpayer-financed expansion plan on ice because it fits the newspaper's agenda:
Angie's List is canceling its Eastside headquarters expansion over the passage of the religious freedom bill, its founder and chief executive officer said Saturday. The CEO of the online consumer ratings service based in Indianapolis said he could not in good conscience partner with the state over the proposed $40 million expansion and hinted that moving some parts of the company out of state is "on the table."
"We are going to re-examine our options for a HQ," Oesterle said.
"We are putting the 'Ford Building Project' on hold until we fully understand the implications of the freedom restoration act on our employees, both current and future," Oesterle said in news release.
"Angie's List is open to all and discriminates against none and we are hugely disappointed in what this bill represents," Oesterle said.I'm sure it had nothing to do with the distinct possibility its taxpayer-financed expansion plan was about to be voted down by the council, even after the company hired a team of high-paid lobbyists to help secure its passage.
33 comments:
karma
I had never used this scam operation before, but now I will actively badmouth them to any potential vendor touting a high rating from these evil Ponzi and crony operators. I will discriminate against Angie's list for being liars with my dollars and good sense by staying away from it. Thank you, Gary.
I read Osterle's comments and am again reminded what a thoroughly despicable human being he is when it comes the local Ponzi scheme commonly called Angie's List. To blame the postponement of the taxpayer life-line Angie Hicks and Bill Osterle desperately need to keep their fake operations rolling on the passage of the RFRA is an insult to anyone who can think.
What else will be blamed on the passage of the RFRA- solar flares?
Postponing the $18.5 Million financial rape of the constituents of the City County Council will save some political skin for Democrat career hack Zach Adamson and double-talker faux Republican Jeff Miller... but the shelving of this bad deal has to do with the fact we might have a politician or two finally willing to see the truth about the fake company Angie Hicks and Bill Osterle sold to the insider Democrats and Republicans the first go-round.
Look, Angie”s list may not be turning a profit, but I don’t care. That new office headquarters was going to be the first new development on the east side in a long time, and it will be missed. And it may be the gossip mongering du jour to criticize and judge everything Angie’s List does, but I know a dozen people who work there and they all make good wages and love the place. The point, if I may misdirect the 50% of you who always think the point is Jesus, is that this crappy legislation is making problems for us in Indiana which have probably only just begun. And the most noticeable one so far is the decision to re-think a desperately needed development on the east side. I know 50% of you only care that you’re getting a new roundabout in Carmel, but stop going round and round for a minute and figure out that Mike Pence and his all Republican statehouse chorus are praying us right down the toilet and corporate America notices, and our young people, who are not bigots and discriminators, notice. And a lot of other people who love their gay children and neighbors notice. You can have your lawyers and lobbyists and republican statehouse hacks couch the legislation in as many pretty terms from as many different angles as you want. But everyone knows its purpose is to support the legal defense of Christians who want to discriminate. They are just too hypocritical to admit it. At least the gays came out of their closets. Who’s going to drag the Christians out of theirs into the light of day. Nobody wants to admit that their businesses support the dog of an Act because they don’t want to be outed. Its no defense that other States have similarly grotesque laws on their books. If other States wanted to jump off a bridge would you want us to follow. Jan Brewer in Arizona properly determined that her conservative state would suffer a backlash that might cost them the Super Bowl if she signed that law. Mike Pence was just to dumb to learn the lesson. Somewhere, in some State, a line has to be drawn. Hoosiers have guts. Time to put the Christians in their place.
Anon 2:05: did you neglect to take your psychotropic meds today? You make absolutely no sense in your rambling diatribe which is more filled with hate than fact. Ask your doc if you should add lithium to your daily routine.
Geez.... no wonder the Republic no longer truly exists...
To say that a company that has never turned a profit and is seeking more taxpayer bailout money and you don't care simply because buildings are promised to be established where no new buildings have been erected in years is no reason to allow the financial rape of the Marion County taxpayer to go through.... is it? The Titanic floated at first but we see how that worked out and that's exactly what Angie's List is... The Titanic.
How "putting Christians in their" has anything to do with this boondoggle is so far out there I don't even know what to say to all the hate you vomit up in your comment except... "wow".
Whatever the reason for canceling this crummy proposal - The fact that it is off the table is great news. Yes there is probably more to the story or there are other reasons for the decision but let's pause for a minute and celebrate the fact that this company will not get another $18M or more of our tax dollars. Thank you Gary for reporting on this!
2:05, if east side redevelopment is what needs to be discussed then let's make that the centerpiece of discussion. Indy can make $18M go a lot further by improving public infrastructure, schools and crime fighting- that is what will bring redevelopment to the area. The Angies proposal was nothing more than a scheme to line the pockets of its well connected executives. Do You really think your well paid friends who work at Angies would fix up a run down house near their new office in a run down crime ridden neighborhood with terrible schools? No, they won't. East side Redevelopment was just a distraction.
Anon 2:05, you read like an upstanding Roman.
Anon 2:05,
Arizona already had an RFRA in place. As far "everyone knows its purpose is to support the legal defense of Christians who want to discriminate" how exactly would that work? Courts have consistently found a compelling interest in anti-discrimination laws and rejected every RFRA challenge. Most RFRA cases have nothing to do with anti-discrimination laws. If groups like Freedom Indiana actually wanted to help the LGBT community, maybe it might get behind an anti-discrimination law that includes sexual orientation instead of beating up on the strawman, the RFRA.
What a load of crap. Angie's List started as a review site for fundamentalist Christians. Since Christians couldn't trust the secular world, Angie's List would give them a service provider who shared their values.
Even today, Angie's List subtly plays up the Christian affinity angle.
This is an incredibly feeble excuse.
There's a documentary being made about Yelp. Evidently, these review sites suck and are untrustworthy.
anyone think this is just a stunt to get their company's name in the spotlight with other recognizable companies speaking out public ally against the law? Interesting that CNN Money has Angie's decision as front page financial news today. Quotes from Osterlie elsewhere state the HQ plans are simply on hold. They will be back at the public $$$ trough before we know it. Gotta iron out those pesky lawsuits first.
If even a little bit of that lawsuit is true, Angie and Oesterle can be looking at serious federal jail time for interstate wire fraud.
2:05, It seems you're on to something. Evidently, Indiana has been given the word it will never host another Super Bowl.
Anyway, if this law keeps us from suffering under another money-losing Super Bowl, good for Pence.
May be time for a rebrand- Angie's Pissed
Live by the state, die by the state. Live on government handouts, die by RICO for Angie's. Live by anti-discrimination laws to benefit your group now, you may end dying by them when that same entity to which you ascribed so much faith completely reverses itself and passes new Jim Crow-type laws.
Hate the State and you can help end much of this nonsense. A law to reverse a law to amend a bad law, etc. Don't let the state do your dirty work and people may think you have cleaner hands and want to do business with you.
Anon 205, is that you Mr. Osterle??
The media shills are describing an anti-RFRA rally crowd of about 500 as several thousand. Total BS.
Angie's List is the only employer I've ever heard of besides a nightclub that allows its employees to drink while on the job. A friend of mine who worked there got a DUI on the way home from work there.
Anon 2:17 - spot on. I am so tired about the "ooppressed" spewing their hate at every opportunity.
As Dana Carvey's "The Church Lady" would say "How Con-VEEEEN-Yent!!"
Using RFRA to as an excuse when in fact the whole curtain is about to be brought down on the scam known as Angie's List is laughable.
As a born native of Indiana, I am honestly glad to see this blow up in Mike Pence's face. I used to (not anymore) work for the State of Indiana Government for one of the Departments. I was there from 2007-2014, so I was able to see both the Daniels and Pence administration.
I have a lot of respect for Daniels, and while he did not always make the most popular decisions, I respected his fiscal conservative approach towards keeping the state on solid footing, esp during the most recent recession.
When Mike Pence won the election, he put all his new people at the Department heads as Commissioners. It was blatantly obvious that all the new "changes" being implemented were self-serving for himself politically.
Statistics and data coming from the Department were mostly garbage orchestrated from his key people to have "meat to put on the table" politically to point to in the event of a presidential run. Disappointing to say the least, and it was incredibly selfish and not for the best interest of Hoosiers.
I have to say Mike Pence was a big reason (among many like high poverty rate, low paying jobs, lousy weather, etc.) that I moved out of the State.
I'm delighted that at least this keeps Mike Pence away from the presidential primaries, and possibly re-election for Governor.
A bunch of shrieking shrill nitwits spewing lies is not "blowing up in Pence's face."
I don't think Indiana will be disserved by Mitch's carpetbaggers heading back to from whence he grabbed them.
The Mitch era was a low point in Indiana's history.
It was quite fitting that the RFRA folks featured Ed DeLaney as a speaker at its rally. The uninformed are clueless about his past work for the CIA in Russia.
Ed DeLaney was spot on and a bright presence at the rally.
Bill Bill Oesterle is nothing but a pimp for "free" money from the public trough.
A company that has NEVER NEVER NEVER made a profit, and keeps "downsizing employees" now wants $18MILLION tax dollars to "hire" 1000 new employees!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess they think we're pretty stupid.
It's nothing but one big freaking circus act. Ed DeLaney could give a shit less whether you live or die. The American people are the most easily fooled population of people known to mankind. This entire ordeal has been orchestrated by people who could care less about the well-being of mankind. The rest of the world looks upon us in disbelief as they watch every aspect of our government and culture scripted in Hollywood and the masses getting drunk on Kool-Aid unable to see what is happening in plain sight.
You think the Governor did well on national tv? id hate to see what a bad performance looks like.
Ed DeLaney cares more than Ballard, the Council, Gov, lobbyists and more.
Talk to the Mendenhall family about what a vile, poor excuse for a human being Ed DeLaney is.
The Mendenhall family is not valid of any complaints. Dig deeper.
How magnanimous of them. All sorts of good things are going to come from this legislation.
Now that's novel. A company that has not turned a profit, and with no indication it will, that is being sued for a corrupt business model at this time announced it won't request our TAX money to pay for an expansion...
I wonder if they could find a bank to give them a loan with their current financial status???
Now they want to blame their own issues on a law. Just laughable and disingenuous.
Anon 2:05, does your attendant know you are on the internet? -You truly need to get inpatient treatment for your mental illness. Your sick diatribe of hate is so inappropriate, I think it is worthy of moderation by the blog author.
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