A.G. Gancarski
The Legislative Session is barreling toward its conclusion, but Gov. Ron DeSantis is looking backward with a new video trumpeting his battle with The Walt Disney Co.
The 102-second mashup of footage begins with footage of skeptical coverage of DeSantis dismantling the long-standing Reedy Creek Improvement District, which segues into the Governor predicting Disney would lose its lawsuit against the state of Florida.
From there, the familiar strains of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” take prominence in the soundtrack, with DeSantis’ appropriately triumphalist words trumpeting the state’s position on the war with Disney being about “who governs” the state amid the institution of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, which has replaced the Reedy Creek structure that stood in place for 55 years.
“This is a good story,” DeSantis said at a recent press conference trumpeting the move.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor dismissed Disney’s free speech lawsuit against DeSantis after Disney accused state leaders of retaliating for speaking out against a controversial Florida law banning classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades.
The Governor’s Office released a statement at the time spotlighting Winsor’s opinion, which noted that “the statute did ‘not implicate any constitutionally protected conduct’” and “courts shouldn’t look to a law’s legislative history to find an illegitimate motivation for an otherwise constitutional statute.”
The Governor downplayed Disney’s intent to appeal.
“I know they said they’re going to appeal. The reality is is they don’t have a basis for this case,” DeSantis said in Lake Buena Vista. “Clearly, the Florida Legislature has the right to reform a local government structure, one that had all these problems.”
DeSantis’ battle with Disney, as readers will recall, began when the company objected to Parental Rights in Education legislation. It cast a shadow over his recent bid for the presidency, with opponents Nikki Haley and Donald Trump launching criticisms of perceived overreach from the Governor’s Office.
What’s clear from the latest release from DeSantis’ press shop, however, is that he’s unmollified and feels vindicated by events and the friendly ruling last month in court.
One year ago, I signed legislation ending what an independent audit found to be one of the worst examples of cronyism in modern U.S. history: Reedy Creek, a local government controlled by a single company; Disney.
While so many claimed ending the cronyism would be bad for… pic.twitter.com/RMPz5Qkyy8
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) February 27, 2024
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Gabrielle Russon of Florida Politics contributed to this report.
8 comments
Jay Smif
February 27, 2024 at 3:42 pm
The Mouse will soon have his revenge on grifting failure pudgy fascist DeSantis, and when does he plan on doing the same thing with the districts run by SeaWorld and Universal, etc.?
I want to see him continue to be publicly humiliated.
MH/Duuuval
February 27, 2024 at 9:18 pm
Bring on the Mouse and his broom, and cue up the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, ’cause Dee got swept by Haley.
John L
February 28, 2024 at 12:07 pm
DeSantis may have won the battle, but Disney won the war and killed DUH Santis presidential run. Good luck with your new job at fox desantis because your political career is DEAD.
Dont Say FLA
February 29, 2024 at 8:41 am
The Rhonda Campaign made and released another video? After the experiences of their previous videos?
Rhonda just can’t learn, can they!
Dont Say FLA
February 29, 2024 at 8:43 am
Gotta spend whatever’s left of that $150 million, I suppose.
And how is Mrs Rhonda’s apparent new video production company doing? Huge profits immediately out the gate, I assume?
Karl Holz
February 29, 2024 at 9:13 am
Ron seems to be unaware of confirmed bachelor Uncle Ludwig’s interest in me, his own nephew.
And in Ferdinand Ries, Stephan von Breuning, Karl Friedrich Amenda, Baron de Trémont, even his own brother Caspar, the list goes on and on and on.
Or Ron does know, and this is another gay disco video.
Ron must be trying to tell us something. Or is he trying to tell Casey?
History Degree
March 1, 2024 at 2:03 pm
Harvard and Yale called. They want Ron’s history degree back.
Joe
March 1, 2024 at 10:52 am
I just realized this angry pipsqueak has a perfect Disney villain counterpart in Governor John Ratcliffe from “Pocahontas”: short, fat, unpleasant, racist, and obsessed with killing people who look different from him.
“This is my land! I make the laws here! And I say that anyone who so much looks at an Indian without killing him on sight will be tried for treason and hanged!”
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