Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at a press conference on the American Police Hall of Fame & Museum in Titusville, May 1, 2023.
Paul Hennessy | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Disney on Monday expanded its federal lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, accusing the Republican leader of doubling down on his “retribution campaign” against the corporate by signing laws to void Disney’s development deals in Orlando.
Disney’s amended lawsuit also noted that Florida’s Republican-led legislature passed laws last week targeting Walt Disney World’s monorail system.
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“Governor DeSantis and his allies don’t have any apparent intent to moderate their retaliatory campaign any time soon,” Disney wrote in its additions to the civil criticism it filed in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee last month.
DeSantis’ office didn’t immediately reply to CNBC’s request for comment on the amended criticism.
Disney alleges that DeSantis began a war of retaliation against the corporate last 12 months, after it publicly criticized the controversial Florida bill — dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics — that limits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms.
The governor and his allies targeted Disney’s special tax district, formerly called the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which has allowed the entertainment giant to effectively self-govern its Orlando parks’ operations for many years. The drawn-out feud spilled into the courts after the district’s recent board of supervisors, which had been hand-picked by DeSantis, voted to nullify development deals that Disney struck shortly before they replaced the old board.
The governor’s board members claimed the deals were unlawfully passed and undercut their power over the 25,000-acre area. But Disney says the contracts were crafted to assist lock in its long-term development plans amid escalating tension with DeSantis and his allies.
On Friday, the ultimate day of the state’s 2023 legislative session, DeSantis signed a bill that included language effectively targeting Disney’s development contracts. It precludes an independent special district “from complying with the terms of any development agreement” that’s struck inside three months before a law “modifying the style of choosing members” of that special district’s governing body.
Republican State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia added that language to the bill days after warning Disney: “You aren’t going to win this fight. This Governor will.”
Democratic members of the state legislature have been quick to sentence the battle.
“The Governor’s inability to understand basic economics, coupled together with his punitive style, has created a bloated and protracted grudge match, which is being bankrolled by the taxpayers,” Jason Pizzo, a Democrat who represents the state’s thirty eighth Senate district, told CNBC. “Because the state’s executive, heading the party which has historically yielded to free market principles, and fewer regulation, this third legislative effort to injure a personal company is antithetical to conservative governance.”
Pizzo lambasted DeSantis for using the state’s revenue on “battling iconic brands.”
“No matter how over and over he shouts Florida is Free, these are the methods of a socialist tyrant, not a Republican wunderkind,” he said.
Linda Stewart, a Democrat representing Florida’s thirteenth Senate district and a staunch critic of DeSantis’ actions against Disney, called the feud between DeSantis and Disney “insane” and laid blame along with her Republican counterparts.
“On daily basis it looks as if there’s one other way that they wish to attempt to make things tougher for Disney, but all they’re doing is costing taxpayers money to rent lawyers to go defend what they’re doing,” Stewart told CNBC on Friday.
