Dabakis To Fly To Indiana To Try To Bring 1,000 Jobs To Utah
SALT LAKE CITY, UT – March 28, 2015 -Gephardt Daily
In an attempt to bring 1,000 jobs to Utah, Senator Jim Dabakis (D-State Senate 2) is headed to Indianapolis.
Dabakis intends to meet with Angie Hicks, founder of Angie’s List. Angie’s List announced that they are pulling out of a pending deal with the state and city to expand its headquarters on Indianapolis’ Near Eastside because of the state’s passage of the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
“They’ve been planning a 40 million dollar renovation and planning a thousand jobs and now as a result of Governor Pence’s signing the sort of “gay hate bill,” the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, they’re pulling out of that deal.”
In essence, the law allows business owners to refuse service to individuals if it is motivated by the business owner’s religious beliefs, and that the burden of proof that said discrimination is not protected by their religious affiliation lies solely with the government and not the individual or business.
Angie’s List is a paid subscription supported website containing crowd sourced reviews of local businesses. For the quarter that ended June 30, 2014, Angie’s List reported total revenue of US $78,896,000 and a net loss of US $18,223,000. Though Angie Hicks is no longer running Angie’s List, having passed the baton to CEO Bill Oesterle, she remains an active spokesperson for the organization.
“It just seemed like the higher profile the better,” Dabakis chuckled as he explained his decision to seek a meeting with Hicks instead of company CEO Bill Oesterle.
Dabakis explained that this is a calculated move to simultaneously boost Utah’s economy and to strike a blow against discrimination.
“Monday we’ll go and hopefully get a meeting on Tuesday,” Dabakis told Gephart Daily in an exclusive interview. “The goals are to take that 40 million dollar investment and thousand jobs from Indiana.”
Dabakis said that he wants to go to Indiana to meet with Hicks in order to send the message that “Utah’s a red state, but we don’t discriminate.”
“I want to strike while the iron is hot,” Dabakis explained. “The advantages of being a non discrimination state are not just moral, they are also economic. It will be nice to bring jobs to Utah, and to rub a little sand in Indiana’s eyes.”
On Facebook, Dabakis extended an invitation to Governor Gary Herbert and House Speaker Greg Hughes to join him, but he told Gephardt Daily that he will certainly understand if they can’t go with him to Indiana.
“It’s really short notice,” Dabakis said. “I’m sure they have very busy schedules.”
