A view of the Walt Disney World theme park entrance in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, July 11, 2020.
Octavio Jones | Getty Images
The Florida Chamber of Commerce has counted Disney as an ally for over a decade and helped propel Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ climb up the state’s political ladder.
Because the governor and one in every of the state’s largest employers feud, the powerful business lobbying organization hasn’t taken sides — a move that might risk damaging a relationship with either of the important thing players within the Sunshine State.
The chamber has deep ties to one in every of Florida’s largest employers. The previous chair of the group’s board was Anthony Connelly, who was once the president of Disney’s Cruise Line. Disney also donated over $400,000 throughout the 2010 election cycle to a pair of political committees run by the chamber, based on the Orlando Sentinel.
Last month, the chamber boasted Walt Disney World donated $100,000 to support STEM education in Florida. It highlighted Rena Langley, an executive on the massive Florida theme park and a longtime member of the chamber’s board.
The chamber has also tried to remain on the nice side of DeSantis, who has largely promoted policies that corporations support, but nonetheless waged a protracted fight against one in every of Florida’s biggest economic drivers. The group and lots of of its board members have also backed the governor’s campaigns, based on campaign finance records and statements reviewed by CNBC.
But as Disney and DeSantis descend into an increasingly venomous fight, the state chamber has not defended or criticized either side. The business lobbying group has yet to weigh in on the dispute on its website.
David Jolly, who while a Republican member of Congress represented Florida’s thirteenth congressional district, told CNBC the state chamber is among the many business groups allied with DeSantis and Disney, putting the lobbying organization into a tricky position.
“The whole business and lobbying class are allies of each DeSantis and Disney,” said Jolly, who’s now an MSNBC political analyst and has left the GOP. “The chamber’s political division might be the premier ally of the state GOP in producing polling and research in low-dollar state House seats, and in addition mobilizes soft dollars around state legislative races.”
The Florida Chamber of Commerce declined to comment. A Disney spokesperson didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Chamber takes no stance on anti-Disney bill
The fight began last 12 months, when Disney spoke out against a Florida bill limiting classroom discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics. Soon after, the governor and his allies targeted the special tax district that has allowed Disney to essentially self-govern its Florida operations because the Nineteen Sixties.
Disney recently filed a lawsuit against DeSantis, alleging the Republican has waged a “relentless campaign to weaponize government power.” The board of supervisors picked by DeSantis to oversee Disney’s operations voted Monday to sue Disney in response to the corporate’s litigation.
The feud has trickled into the 2024 Republican primary for president, as DeSantis considers a run for the White House. Former President Donald Trump, who has called DeSantis’ fight with Disney a “political stunt,” is planning to make use of the same attack on the Florida governor if he enters the race, based on an individual near Trump who declined to be named with a purpose to speak freely concerning the campaign’s strategy.
“Trump plans to say, ‘Ron cannot even beat Mickey Mouse in his own backyard, how can he tackle China? How can he take care of Russia,'” a detailed advisor to the previous president told CNBC.
A Trump campaign spokesperson didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Because the state’s legislative session wraps up Friday, Republicans have backed multiple pieces of laws targeting Disney. State legislative records show the chamber has not officially lobbied any of the bills that went after Disney, including HB 9B. The bill, signed by the governor earlier this 12 months, aimed to finish the corporate’s self-governing status.
Republican state Rep. Fred Hawkins, who introduced HB 9B, told CNBC probably the most he heard from the state chamber was questions from leaders and members of the group “just asking what was within the bill and when it will be filed.”
Records show the Florida Chamber of Commerce has reason to not become involved with the bitter feud despite having a historic alliance to Disney.
The state chamber has made major contributions to a pro-DeSantis political motion committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis. Since DeSantis’ 2018 successful run for governor, the Florida Chamber of Commerce has donated $345,000 to the group, based on state campaign finance records.
Almost half those donations got here throughout the 2022 election cycle. The state chamber lists DeSantis’ sweeping win over Democrat Charlie Crist as one in every of dozens of victories for the lobbying group inside Florida throughout the last election cycle.
The state chamber’s board can also be suffering from DeSantis allies, a few of whom were financiers for DeSantis’ campaigns or appointees to state board positions.
Charles Lydecker, the CEO of insurance company Foundation Risk Partners, was a board member for the Florida chamber as of 2020, based on a tax form filed by the group. Those forms are probably the most recent publicly available tax documents for the organization.
Lydecker has contributed $135,000 to the pro-DeSantis PAC since 2018. In 2019, DeSantis appointed him to the board of governors of the state university system. Lydecker, listed as a chamber board member on the state university system’s website, didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Robert Grammig Jr., an attorney and partner at Holland & Knight, has worked with the state chamber for years while supporting DeSantis’ gubernatorial campaigns. His Holland & Knight profile says he was the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s chairman until 2019 and currently serves as chairman of the lobbying group’s International Business Council.
Florida state campaign finance records show he repeatedly donated toward DeSantis’ two runs for governor, including $50,000 in 2022 to the Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC. Grammig didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
H. Wayne Huizenga Jr., a businessman and son to the late billionaire H. Wayne Huizenga, was also listed as a member of the state chamber board on the 2020 forms. DeSantis announced in 2020 he was appointing Huizenga Jr. to the board of governors of the state university system.
The businessman gave a minimum of $150,000 to the Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC throughout the 2022 election cycle, based on records.
It’s unclear if Huizenga Jr. remains to be a state chamber board member. He didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.