DeSantis, in a New Salvo at Disney, Suggests He May Build Prison Next to Famed Theme Park

In the latest development in the fight between the state of Florida and Disney, Governor DeSantis announced he will reassert control over the corporation’s special tax district and mused about the possibility of building a prison near the company’s Orlando amusement park. At a press conference on Monday, Mr. DeSantis said he and the legislature would work to nullify an edict by the recently replaced Reedy Creek Improvement District board of supervisors that handed complete control of the “special tax district” to Disney. “You’re not gonna have Disney have its own government in central Florida,” the governor said at a press conference. “They’re gonna live under the same laws as everybody else, pay their fair share of taxes, and honor the debts they have accumulated over the years.”He also said that the undeveloped land within the district could be repurposed. “If you look at this whole special district, Walt Disney Corporation obviously owns a lot of it, but the district owns other land,” Mr. DeSantis said at the press conference, smiling. “Now people are like, what should we do with this land? People have said: Maybe create a state park, maybe try to do more amusement parks. Someone even said maybe you need another state prison. Who knows?”A former state representative and current congressional candidate who criticized Mr. DeSantis’s takeover of the tax district last year for not going far enough, Anthony Sabatini, told the Sun that this reassertion of power is “a step in the right direction.”“Florida has been way too easy on Disney,” Mr. Sabatini said. “It’s time to remove Disney’s lucrative tax privileges.”When Mr. DeSantis asserted control over the special district during a special legislative session earlier this year, Mr. Sabatini said his fellow Republicans should have revoked some of the special privileges afforded to the entertainment giant, including its lucrative tax breaks. “The legislature is still controlled by Disney,” he told the Sun in February when the takeover was announced. Originally, the special district’s board of supervisors was elected by residents of the area. Because the district’s residential population is almost entirely made up of Disney employees, the board ended up under the control of the company itself. Mr. DeSantis and the legislature changed that so the board was appointed by the governor, thus giving Republicans control of the district. Mr. Sabatini took issue with that change because it maintained Disney’s special tax system and regulatory oversight. Just before the original Disney-controlled board was forced out, though, it signed an agreement that handed control of the district’s building codes, zoning, and public services to the company. The development agreement stated that the “declaration shall continue in effect until 21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, King of England, living as of the date of this declaration.”President Trump was quick to seize on his probable primary opponent being outflanked by the corporation, saying in a Truth Social post that “Ron DeSanctimonious got outplayed, outsmarted, and embarrassed by Mickey Mouse and Disney.”In a New York Post article on Monday, a conservative law professor, Jonathan Turley, said he was told privately that the new board of supervisors — those hand-picked by Mr. DeSantis — would soon declare the development agreement handing control to Disney “null and void.”Disney drew the ire of national conservatives after executives and workers at the company protested the passage of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law last year, which restricts the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida’s elementary schools.Disney employees gathered outside of Disney World last year to protest Mr. DeSantis and the legislature. Mr. DeSantis, in turn, said that “if you are out protesting this bill, you are, by definition, putting yourself in favor of injecting sexual instruction to 5-, 6-, and 7-year old kids.”Many of the creative workers at the company called for the resignation of Chief Executive Bob Chapek, who they felt did not push back forcefully enough, according to CNBC. Mr. Chapek was later fired and replaced by his predecessor, Bob Iger. Mr. Iger later said that Mr. DeSantis was “anti-business and anti-Florida.”

DeSantis, in a New Salvo at Disney, Suggests He May Build Prison Next to Famed Theme Park

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