I still don't understand how Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got away with his move last year to eliminate Disney World's special tax district as retaliation for Disney speaking out against one of his bills. It was outrageous and surely illegal, especially since DeSantis explicitly said he was taking action as revenge against Disney's statements.
Somehow this never got much attention, even though—in my eyes, anyway—it's easily the worst thing he's done. By explicitly punishing Disney for its public opinion, he is using official state power to crush free speech.
Florida lawmakers on Friday gave final approval to a proposal to give Gov. Ron DeSantis more control over the future of Disney’s Orlando-area theme parks, the latest escalation in the Republican leader’s feud with the entertainment giant.
The GOP-led state Senate voted 26-9 Friday on a bill to let the state take over the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the government body that has given Disney unique powers in Central Florida for more than half a century. Under the bill, the district’s existing board will be replaced by a five-member board hand-picked by DeSantis.
First DeSantis punishes Disney for disagreeing with him about something. Now, instead of merely eliminating Disney's tax district—which would turn over its taxing power to the county—the legislature is going to keep it around but give DeSantis complete control over it so that Disney will toe the line in the future.
Someone please tell me I'm overreacting. Is there any reason not to think that DeSantis is using state power to conduct his own personal vendetta? Is there some reason he's not in prison over this?¹
POSTSCRIPT: Apparently some conservatives think this move is actually a capitulation by DeSantis: Disney gets to keep its special district with only a change of board members, who will probably stay friendly toward Disney. It's just a way for DeSantis to look tough while in reality he's defusing the feud he started last year.
Maybe? I imagine you'd have to be deeply knowledgeable about Florida politics to know if there's anything to this.
¹No, I'm not joking.
"Is there some reason he's not in prison over this?"
Because it's Florida and all the people who have power to oppose him--the Legislator and state courts--approve of what he's doing. I assume no one has come up with convincing grounds/standing to oppose his actions in Federal court (or Trumpified Federal judges have rejected such claims).
Disney would have standing, of course.
Most important, a large majority of white voters in Florida love what DeSantis is doing.
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De Santis's motives and actions make the most sense when one views him as a careful student of everything Orban has done.
Disney's private fiefs and preferential treatment in Florida can and should be destroyed root and branch, but DeSantis isn't doing it out of legitimate, if wrongheaded, state interest; as Kevin says he's doing it as naked political retaliation, which is flatly illegal.
I too would like to know why a suit hasn't been filed or charges brought.
I think no suit has been brought because DeSantis has not, in any factual way that could be in evidence in court, harmed Disney. He's said lots of threatening things, but hasn't followed through on those threats. When I dug into the details of the "take away Disney's tax status" legislation, I noted that they deferred implementation until after the election. Which meant it was a stunt, meant to be rolled back.
So I agree with those conservatives that DeSantis is backing down. Actually punishing Disney would be blatantly illegal. But threatening to is not, apparently.
I think Disney has understood this pretty much all along, and so mostly low-keyed it.
That makes sense. I was fairly certain that if any of this had hit Disney yet in a way that bothered them, they would have unleashed their lawyers from the pits of hell. I assumed the fact that they hadn't meant that they felt they could work around his stunt. From what I understand, Florida is now on the hook for a lot of the area services.
"unleashed their lawyers from the pits of hell"
Is there a Disney movie on that yet or at least something on HBO max?
Actually punishing Disney would be blatantly illegal. But threatening to is not, apparently.
It’s just funny cause there’s literally a case before the Supreme Court right now regarding a website designer who wasn’t punished in any way by the State of Colorado, but just wants to reserve the right to be offended if she happens to be asked by a gay couple to design a website and turns them down. Apparently, threatening (or not threatening) to punish a Christian for their alleged religious beliefs is something that the courts take seriously… but threatening to punish a corporation for their free speech is totally aboveboard, as you mentioned.
good points but i imagine disney's legal team could make a good case that the threats themselves caused harm to reputation and created harm via costs due to business uncertainty. they probably have just chosen not to because they don't want to have a very public fight with desantis and the maga crowd.
and if the behavior is criminal, i don't think disney would need to show any harm for a DA to bring charges, but i assume that is the kind of political risk that isn't worth it to any DA in a position to do so.
The improvement district borrowed a billion dollars based on promises made by the Florida Legislature that the improvement district would never be dissolved so long as it had debt outstanding.
That promise is protected by the contract clauses of the Florida and United States constitutions.
So the law signed by DeSantis was patently unconstitutional, and creditors could have, and would have, sued and won—easily. Even the right-wing kooks in the federal courts are not going to undermine the rights of creditors of public entities.
But as one respondent said, Disney knew this was a stunt and that DeSantis would have to back down. They pretty much immediately filed a statement with the SEC to that effect.
https://emma.msrb.org/P21566885-P21210477-P21631346.pdf
And yes, DeSantis is a dangerous, vindictive thug.
I hope we see some memes of him snarling at Mickey Mouse and the Disney princesses.
The original Kingfish himself, Huey Long, couldn't have done it better. Lots of parallels there. As drickard says, with both houses of the legislature and all the bureaucrats in his pocket, and the apparent authority to replace local and county-level officials just by snapping his fingers, he's golden.
I don't know how far this could fly, but what he's doing wrt Disney smells an awful lot like a bill of attainder, which is specifically forbidden to Congress. I don't know whether FL also prohibits them, but it might be worth exploring this stuff from the attainder angle, if only because it could sidestep due process issues. Maybe even civil rights grounds? Disney can certainly afford to pay for any of these explorations, whether they'd ultimately pursue a case or not.
Since when has the left cared about free speech? That is so 1990s.
Disney should buy The Villages’ operation through shell companies (it’s how Walt bought so much FL real estate!), and mirror every decision DeSantis imposes on them.
That said, I understand that the Disney fiefdom is deeply problematic, although it did make their infrastructure superior to just about anything south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Yeah, doesn’t “The Village’s” enjoy pretty much the same “special district” privileges as Reedy Creek? That’s how I understood it.
yeah from what I've read Disney self funds so they have blue state infrastructure while only paying red state taxes,
the correct outcome should be to not allow Disney to essentially be a state within the state and tax everyone at the level needed to provide 1st world infrastructure to the whole state, but it being Florida that ain't gonna happen
Perhaps, with rising seas, Florida will only need to fund infrastructure to half the state.
Disney taxes itself at three times the rate of neighboring properties.
Have you been to Florida? What aspects of our infrastructure do you think are not "1st world"?
this might have to do with the $1 billion-plus debt Reedy Creek (Disney) owes. the original dissolution of the reedy creek district would have dumped the debt on the two counties in which it lies.
as i tried to say while editing my original comment, this has everything to do with the $1 billion-plus debt Reedy Creek owes, plus the $100 million a year to maintain and improve roads, sewers, water lines etc. the original dissolution of Reedy Creek would have left Disney without control over these things but actually would have saved it money that taxpayers would have had to pick up.
Showing big business who's boss and then telling them it's all right since they'll still make money, as long as they get their politics right, is not mutually exclusive. Call it the Mussolini recipe for pizza: hot & sweet.
"Is there some reason he's not in prison over this?"
"Law cannot reach where enforcement will not follow" - Jack Vance.
Ooh, nice name-check! +{|}^{|}.
"I still don't understand how Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got away with ..."
...fucking up public health policy, leading to the deaths of tens of thousands of Floridians who didn't need to die, and then be praised for his performance during the pandemic.
...waging the greatest assault on freedom of speech seen anywhere outside of a few authoritarian dictatorships, yet as late as this week have a NYT columnist argue that he's just an effective leader trying to appeal to parents who are tired of culture war battles and have onetime "free speech" but now anti-woke advocate M. Yglesias warn that this kind of stuff is NOT what Democrats want to be talking about in the next election campaign.
...engineering a takeover of the education system to satisfy the whims of one man like nothing seen in this country before, and except for a few liberals get mostly muted criticism at worst.
...retaliating against one of the state's largest employers and the country's largest media conglomerate because the (soon-to-be-replaced) CEO belatedly criticized a law attacking the rights of many of his employees, and all you hear are crickets.
His administration is the opposite of every principal of freedom and limited government that the pro-business GOP establishment has crying about for decades. What do they think? He's their goddamn savior who's going to save them from Trump and the MAGA crazies.
Where are liberal centrists who have been making a big deal about freedom of speech and academic freedom every time there's been an instance of progressive overreach? Well, we don't hear a lot from them. They must be busy writing their next anti-woke screed.
DeSantis is the most dangerous man in America*. What happens if he gets into the White House will be worse than anything we've yet seen. Count on it.
* Trump has held that title for years now. I think he has too many obstacles to get a chance at a second term. DeSantis is a shitty politician (and a transparently shitty human being) whose act shouldn't fly outside the swamps of Florida, so he has obstacles himself. The question is whether the economy in '24 is shitty or not, and likewise, Uncle Joe's health.
He is a dangerous politician… no doubt. Someone should do something. Ha! 😜😂
"Where are liberal centrists who have been making a big deal about freedom of speech and academic freedom every time there's been an instance of progressive overreach?"
True. It would be so much better if they would be calling out the extremists on the left such as for DEI. But sadly, it reminds me of GOP politicians who can never be bothered to call out Trump. We live in the age where both sides refuse to cede an inch to the other side.
The State couldn't dissolve Disney's special district without dumping a billion dollars in outstanding bond debt onto the two counties in the Orlando area. It would have meant a billion dollar windfall for Disney and a billion dollar new debt for the taxpayers. So DeSantis couldn't follow through.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2022/04/26/disney-suggests-florida-cant-dissolve-special-district-without-paying-debt/#:~:text=But%20the%20cost%20of%20providing,%24600%20million%20budget%2C%20he%20said.
This is much better for him. Disney keeps the debt and loses the control.
I would think that, if the DeSantis-appointed board members try to screw Disney over on the debt (like jacking up the property tax or failing to rubber stamp new Disney-sponsored development or whatever), Disney has enough money to fund every Democrat in the state running to take back Tallahassee. Money isn’t everything in elections, but it isn’t nothing either.
Assuming Dems could win (no but whatever) they would win and... tax disney more.
Anyhow what is happening here is literally how fascists ran their economies.
Disney can end this by closing up shop and moving. But they won't. And DeSantis knows this. The amount of pain DeSantis inflicts will have to be a heck of a lot more than this before that point is reached.
Closing up shop and moving would be insane. Disney is not insane.
Best they can do is lobby like crazy and hope to have more influence with the next governor, who they'll try to cut some deals with.
If the political winds are permanently against them (unlikely but possible), they can disinvest in FL, expand elsewhere, and FL will be a smaller part of their future business.
Disney can’t afford to relocate their entire park to somewhere else. But they could easily transfer everything related to intellectual property and the headquarters to somewhere else. And they could stop any future investment in the state, like for new theme parks or whatever. They should totally do those things, in addition to funding every Democrat opposed to DeSantis in the state.
Or don't fund anyone. Or any charity in Florida. And announce all future studio expansions will not be in Florida.
And say you are doing this because you want to be "In a more business friendly state."
I don’t live in Florida and don’t go to Disney world. Florida might as well be Afghanistan to me. It’s nice to see someone using the power of the state to punish bad actors. Maybe democrats could learn a thing or two… no, of course not that’s silly!
The problem is not Florida or desatan. It’s your so called fellow citizens. The only good republicans are the dead ones. If you aren’t willing to harass and fight them, then you deserve your fate.
Apparently Disney isn’t willing to defend themselves. Fuck them.
What is to defend when in twenty years Orlando will be just north of the southern shore?
DeSantis was proposing to destroy the value of a billion dollars of debt securities held by individual and institutional investors.
You’d think right-wingers might raise their eyebrow at that, since it’s expressly forbidding in the federal Constitution (the original one drafted by the rich white guys, not one of those after-the-thought amendments).
(“No State shall . . . pass any . . . Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts.” Art. I, sec. 10.)
Right-wingers are always issuing pronunciamentos that the Constitution protects private property. Now they’ve conclusively proven that their devotion to “originalism” is unadulterated bullshit.
"The only good republicans are the dead ones."
Whenever democrats decry violent language by right-wingers, I will think of your statement. Hopefully Kevin sees this and bans you from this site. You are a despicable low life.
It was outrageous and surely illegal, especially since DeSantis explicitly said he was taking action as revenge against Disney's statements.
From a purely legal standpoint, do the political ramblings of an elected official have any bearing? Did he have the authority to take this action under Florida's constitution, or not? If the answer is "yes" — that was indeed the governor's prerogative (or else Disney would've filed suit, right?) — I expect that's the answer right there: he did it because as governor he's allowed to.
INAL, but I believe normally, his saying was was taking action against Disney for opposing him would be a big deal legally.
BUT...in the Trump Muslim ban case, they handwaved away Trump's public statements. So right now what's "legal" isn't always consistent, unfortunately. The current SCOTUS is destabilizing.
The implicit message in DeSantis' behavior is, "We are a tribe. They are the enemy."
Everyone gets the message. The tribe cheers, and the rejected howl bloody murder, which plays right into his trap. And then the "tribe" gives him a standing ovation.
Two options: play into his hand or agree that "tribe" is everyone. That means figuring out how to convince someone that hate you that you care about them. It's not easy. It's easier than the alternative.
The law is a collective enterprise. A not-collective law isn't worth the electrons that are used to display it on your monitor.
"I imagine you'd have to be deeply knowledgeable about Florida politics to know if there's anything to this."
Nope.
There aren't enough antidepressants in the world.
Chick-fil-a? https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/02/chick-fil-a-loses-two-airport-deals-in-less-than-two-weeks.html
Washington Redskins? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Redskins_name_controversy#DC_Metro_area_jurisdictions
I can find other examples.
Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
Regarding the postscript, that is basically the narrative here in FL. DeSantis basically backed down and isn't making any changes to the tax structure or eliminating the special district all together. Soon after he made those threats originally most people knew it wasn't going to happen because it would place too much debt on the counties. This is his way of backing down but still taking some action.
As republican, I agree that going after a private sector company because of a political statement it issued is despicable. There's a lot I like about DeSantis but this really angered me.
Elsewhere: https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/02/16/media/india-bbc-office-raid-third-day-thursday-intl-hnk/index.html