Dem
51
GOP
49
Despite "woke" not being a good campaign issue at all (see next item), Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is showing his inner pitbull and not letting go. With the expected results, naturally. Yesterday DeSantis' hand-picked board of supervisors for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (the new name for the Reedy Creek Improvement District) voted to try to invalidate the agreement the old Reedy Creek board made with the Walt Disney Corporation. Just minutes later, Disney filed a suit in federal court trying to block the new board. It stated that the new board jeopardizes the economic future of the region, threatens Disney's business, and violates the companies First Amendment rights. We're impressed that the Disney lawyers could put together a complex lawsuit in a few minutes. It's almost like they anticipate all eventualities in advance, rather than flying by the seat of their pants. We're also impressed with DeSantis' stupidity in continuing to push this issue, when even Republicans don't care about it and picking a fight with the state's biggest private employer is going to get him labeled as anti-business.
Before voting to try to undo the agreement between Disney and Reedy Creek, there was a public hearing in which several local business owners in the area urged the board to work with Disney, not fight it. Not only did the chairman of the new board, Martin Garcia, reject that idea, but he said that all the legal infighting with Disney would cost a lot of money, so they would have to raise taxes to pay for it.
The core of the argument that the new board has a right to undo the old agreement is that Reedy Creek didn't follow the rules and the law and didn't hold open hearings and get permission from the relevant cities. We're not lawyers, but we know that Reedy Creek has been around since 1967—more than half a century. Disney has some very good lawyers and with well more than 50 years collective experience, we suspect they know the rules and the law exceptionally well and followed them to the letter. If DeSantis and his board refuse to back down, the federal courts will have to settle this, but it could take years. (V)