Ron's Gone Wrong, Con't

In a Friday Night News Dump™ crapped out late last week while the world was watching our dysfunctional House GOP Circus of the Damned and laughing at Kevin McCarthy openly for his stupidity, Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his own coming Pyrrhic humiliation at the hands of Disney and invited everyone to pull up a seat for the show.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will seek to bring Disney's special governing district under direct state control in a bid to end the entertainment giant's multi-decade arrangement with the Sunshine State.

DeSantis is expected to appoint a new board to control Reedy Creek, the self-governing area that is currently de facto run by The Walt Disney Company, and allows it to maintain its own infrastructure and public services. Created in 1967, the district also allows Disney to raise taxes and issue bonds to finance the expenses required to run services for Walt Disney World resort.

“The corporate kingdom has come to an end," said DeSantis's communications director, Taryn Fenske, in a statement. "Under the proposed legislation, Disney will no longer control its own government, will live under the same laws as everyone else, will be responsible for their outstanding debts, and will pay their fair share of taxes."

Fenske added that a state-controlled board would also ensure that neighboring Orange County cannot use Reedy Creek-related issues "as a pretext to raise taxes on Orange County residents.”

Fox News first reported the Friday development, citing sources in DeSantis' office. In a document posted to the website of Osceola County, which also borders Orange County and Reedy Creek, notice was given that the proposed legislation would leave no current aspect of Reedy Creek untouched.

Florida legislators already voted in a special session last year to dissolve all special districts like Reedy Creek in Florida by June 2023. It was not immediately clear how that earlier vote would impact the new proposal.

 

DeSantis is clearly betting that he has better lawyers than Disney, and there's tens of billions of dollars at stake here. He's expecting Disney to surrender and for his army of trolls to attack the company until they do. Maybe there's a deal in the works, but I'm betting this fight is going to last years and cost both sides buckets of cash...which is what DeSantis wants anyway.

 

This is going to be nasty, especially if you live in central Florida, because it's going to be the people of the Orlando area who are going to definitely suffer the most when DeSantis wrecks the economy there for good.