This story on Angie's List 's GOP operative turned CEO William Oesterle and his team of top MANagers deserves more attention.
Oesterle began his career working for Governor Robert Orr of Indiana, then he want on to join the Hudson Institute before joining the private sector, but Oesterle came back to GOP politics in 2004.
Angie's List Has a Problem with Women
By Krystal Ball
In 2004, Oesterle managed Mitch Daniels' successful Indiana gubernatorial race. Daniels as you'll recall was considered a possible Republican presidential candidate and is now on Mitt Romney's possible VP list. Oesterle's political giving has also been prolific. Over the past 10 years, he has given more than $300,000 to Republican politicians in his home state of Indiana. Not a single dollar has gone to Democrats. Given his obvious partisan affiliations, it makes sense that Oesterle would be sympathetic to Limbaugh's "entertaining" right-wing messages, and his method actor's delivery of distortion, lies, and incendiary vitriol.
It looks like William Oesterle assembled a management team at Angie's List that look and think as he does.
Given the company's emphasis on women, I was pretty surprised to find that there is not even one woman on the Angie's List board of directors. Senior management is little better, with Angie herself being the sole female representative who made the cut. Couple the lack of female voices at senior levels within Angie's List's management with their current support of the practicing misogynist Rush Limbaugh, and Angie's stance becomes pretty clear: their actual support of women goes as far as taking their money.
This seems like more than a mere marketing strategy, Angie's List has taken sides in the Culture War and one of the fronts of that larger conflict is the GOP's War on Women. A war Angie's List is a combatant in.
A dog investigates a pinata at a party I attended earlier.