The battle between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and The Walt Disney Company is heading to court.
On Wednesday, a board appointed by Mr. DeSantis to oversee government services at Disney World decided to void two agreements that allowed Disney to take greater control of expansion at the 25,000-acre resort complex. Within minutes, Disney sued Mr. DeSantis, five board members, and other state officials in federal court, claiming a “targeted campaign of government retaliation.”
Last year, under pressure from employees, Disney suspended political donations in the state after criticizing a Florida education law that opponents labeled “don’t say gay.” Revoke Disney World’s autonomy privileges. Disney’s lawsuit accused DeSantis of conducting a “constant campaign to weaponize government power over Disney in retaliation for expressing his political views.” The campaign “currently threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes the economic future of the region, and violates constitutional rights,” the complaint added.
A spokeswoman for DeSantis had no comment at this time.
At the center of the battle between Mr. DeSantis and Disney is the special tax district encompassing Disney World, which employs 75,000 people and attracts 50 million visitors annually. Created in 1967 southwest of Orlando, the district effectively turned the property into its own county and gave Disney extraordinary powers for fire protection, police, waste management, energy generation, road maintenance, bond issuance, and development planning. gave management.
In February, Congress decided to allow governors to appoint district oversight boards to reduce corporate autonomy. I was allowed to elect the members of the society.
But before the new board was put in place, Disney pushed the deal forward at a public meeting advertised at the Orlando Sentinel in early February. One of the deals gives Disney the ability for him to build 14,000 additional hotel rooms, a fifth theme park, and three smaller parks. The other restricts the use of adjacent land. For example, no strip clubs.
When DeSantis’ appointees took office last month, they learned that Disney’s former board of directors had approved development contracts and covenants that would limit the new board’s powers for decades to come. and they were furious.
DeSantis, who has not officially announced his candidacy but is a leading Republican presidential candidate, responded with anger. He suggested a variety of potential punitive actions against Disney, including revaluing the resort for property tax levies and developing land near the entrance to the resort. “We might build a state park, we might try to build more amusement parks. Someone said we might need another state prison,” he said at a press conference on April 17.
He also said efforts are underway to give states new authority over vehicle safety inspections at Disney World. 15 miles monorail A transit system carrying an estimated 150,000 passengers per day.
The board’s vote to nullify is evidence of what its general counsel, Daniel Langley, called “self-dealing” and “procedural inconsistency” when Disney pushed the deal earlier this year. was done after presenting Langley and another commission attorney said Disney violated Florida law in multiple ways, including failing to give the public full notice of the actions it took.
“What they have created is an absolute legal mess,” board chairman Martin Garcia said of Disney at the conference.
Disney’s lawsuit called the board’s actions “clearly retaliatory, clearly anti-business, and clearly unconstitutional.”
Daniel M. Petroselli, a senior litigator in Los Angeles, has filed a complaint on behalf of Disney in the United States District Court in Tallahassee. Petrocelli was the attorney former President Donald J. Trump turned to in 2016 to handle a class action fraud case against the late Trump University.
Disney CEO Robert A. Iger called DeSantis’ actions “anti-business” and “anti-Florida.” Iger also suggests that future investments in Disney World could be jeopardized if governors continue to use Disney as a political punching bag. The company plans to spend more than $17 billion on resorts over the next decade, and this growth is expected to create an estimated 13,000 jobs for the company.
Disney paid and collected a total of $1.2 billion in state and local taxes in 2022, according to company disclosures.
“Companies have the same right to free speech as individuals,” Iger said at Disney’s annual shareholder meeting earlier this month. “The governor is very angry at the position Disney has taken and has retaliated against us, including by appointing a new commission to oversee the facility, with the aim of effectively punishing corporations that exercised their constitutional rights. And that seems really wrong to me.”
