The battle between the biggest employer in the Sunshine State and Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and other lawmakers is on. This comes on the heels of a botched business deal that saw the Governor wanting to become more involved in the company and the direction they are headed in the state. In effect, he wanted to gain some semblance of control in the affairs of the Mouse, but Disney is saying no.
Gov. DeSantis’ communications director Taryn Fenske issued a response to the lawsuit. “We are unaware of any legal right that a company has to operate its own government or maintain special privileges not held by other businesses in the state. The lawsuit is yet another unfortunate example of their hope to undermine the will of the Florida voters and operate outside the bounds of the law.”
M. Mouse and its woke majority owner in California have been speaking out against Gov. DeSantis’ new laws to keep sexuality out of schools. They chose to bring the fight to the state with the support of many of its employees. Now, they are suddenly finding themselves losing favor in the state. As a result, lawmakers took away the special status the company has enjoyed for over 50 years.
The special district created for them that allowed them to oversee the land development around their four theme parks has disappeared. Instead, they gave Gov. DeSantis the power to appoint members to their governing board. Before the board could be changed, Disney struck a new deal to review any changes to their property or operations.
Language in the new agreement leaves the agreement in place for eternity or “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England.” Odd terminology and stipulations like this across the contract have the governor retaliating with sudden discussions about new tolls, taxes, and prisons near the parks.
Should the Honorable Donald Duck take the bench, we can only hope he can cut things down the middle. Interfering in business like this is not the conservative way, and as such, has deeply fractured DeSantis’ support base, with even President Trump calling him out for taking such a pathetic loss.
