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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis responds to a question during a press conference at the headquarters of the former Reedy Creek Improvement District that the newly appointed board calls the Central Florida Tourism Control District, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, on Monday, April 17, 2023.
Joe Burbank | Orlando Sentinel | Getty Images
The board of supervisors selected by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to oversee Walt Disney World’s operations voted Monday to file a lawsuit Disney in response to the company’s recent federal lawsuit alleging the governor launched a campaign of political retaliation.
The committee, which challenged the company’s privileged autonomy status when it replaced a Disney-backed board weeks ago, voted unanimously to approve filing a lawsuit in state court.
“This district will seek justice in the state court here in Central Florida where Disney resides, operates and operates its business,” Martin Garcia, chairman of the board, said at a meeting Monday morning, where the legal conflict was the sole subject of the business. “Yeah, we’ll see justice in our own backyard.”
Disney sued DeSantis and the oversight board last Wednesday in US District Court in Tallahassee, Florida. The company asked to effectively regain control of the special tax district that had allowed it to autonomy for Orlando-area parks operations since the 1960s.
The lawsuit escalated from a fight that began more than a year ago, when the entertainment giant slammed a Florida bill that would limit talk about sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms.
The bill, dubbed “Don’t Say Jay” by its opponents, was approved by the GOP-controlled state legislature and signed into law by DeSantis in March 2022. Within weeks, the governor and his allies began targeting Disney’s Special Governance District, which at the time was called the Reedy Creek Improvement District.
Disney filed its lawsuit the same day that members of the Board of Governors voted to retract a development deal the company struck prior to DeSantis’ selections. Took over — basically throttled the power of the new board.
“In essence, Disney is asking a federal court in Tallahassee to turn back the hands of time to 1967,” Garcia said of the lawsuit filed by Disney during Monday’s meeting.
“For us to be stuck in a 1967 urban planning design – does that make sense to anyone?” Garcia said, arguing that his board is just trying to modernize the area.
A Disney spokesperson declined to comment on the board vote.
But Disney’s civil complaint alleged that the state’s actions amounted to “as clear a case of retaliation as this court may ever see.” The company noted that the state’s problems with the district only began after the semester bill dispute.
“There is no room for dispute about what happened here: Disney expressed its opinion on state legislation and was then punished by the state for doing so,” Disney’s lawsuit said.
Disney filed the complaint while DeSantis was away on a political trip that appeared to lay more grounds for the 2024 Republican presidential bid.
DeSantis, who is expected to announce his presidential plans after the Florida legislature closes in early May, is the main contender against former President Donald Trump.
But the drawn-out feud against Disney, one of Florida’s top employers, has recently begun to draw criticism from some of DeSantis’ fellow Republicans.
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