Disney Sues DeSantis, Alleging Political Effort to Hurt Business

David Voreacos, Felipe Marques and Tal Barak Harif
·5 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co. sued Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, alleging he’s threatening billions of dollars in business as retaliation for the company speaking against his policies.

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The lawsuit came shortly after a board appointed by DeSantis to oversee the municipal authority that governs Disney’s Florida theme parks voted to void land-use contracts signed by the company. Disney, which employs 75,000 people in the state, sued in federal court in Tallahassee.

“This government action was patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional,” Disney said in its 74-page complaint.

Disney Versus DeSantis: A Timeline of the Florida Political Feud

The company said the board vote was only the latest strike in a “targeted campaign of government retaliation — orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech” which “now threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights.”

Disney asked the court for an order declaring DeSantis’s actions unlawful.

“This lawsuit is yet another unfortunate example of their hope to undermine the will of the Florida voters and operate outside the bounds of the law,” DeSantis communications director Taryn Fenske said in an emailed statement. “We are unaware of any legal right that a company has to operate its own government.”

A Republican and potential 2024 presidential candidate, DeSantis kicked off a feud with Disney last year after the company criticized a law championed by the governor that restricted classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity.

DeSantis responded by trying to seize control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the local governing jurisdiction set up in 1967 that gave Disney great autonomy to manage to day-to-day operations of Disney World and its other Central Florida theme parks, by appointing his own people to the board. But Disney was able to outmaneuver the governor by quietly pushing through changes that weakened the municipal authority hand-picked by DeSantis.

Last week, DeSantis vowed to undo the changes Disney made and further threatened the company, suggesting the state might impose taxes on nearby hotels, add tolls to roads leading to Disney properties and possibly build a prison near the company’s theme parks.

“Who knows? I just think the possibilities are endless,” DeSantis said at an April 17 press conference.

In its lawsuit, Disney said that it sought for more than a year to de-escalate the fight and seek a dialogue with DeSantis.

“Disney regrets that it has come to this,” the company said, adding that it felt it had “no choice but to file this lawsuit to protect its cast members, guests, and local development partners from a relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain state officials.”

Though DeSantis’s crusade against Disney has been popular with conservatives critical of “woke” corporations, he’s also faced criticism for taking things as far as he has. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie last week said he would not consider DeSantis a conservative “based on his actions towards Disney.”

A former high-level DeSantis appointee, who asked not to be named in discussing the matter, said a prolonged court battle with Disney could damage the pro-business reputation Florida governor has been working to cultivate.

Disney is one of Central Florida’s largest taxpayers, contributing more than $1.1 billion in state and local taxes last year. Disney is also one of the largest employers in the state, with tens of thousands of workers, which it calls cast members. The company emphasized its economic importance to Florida in its suit.

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who has announced she is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, took a shot at DeSantis on Twitter Wednesday over his Disney fight.

Florida state Senator Shevrin Jones, a Democrat, said the Disney fight would hurt DeSantis with voters.

“I want to see where people stand when it comes to the governor attacking one of the largest employers in the state of Florida,” Jones said. “The fact that he is willing to die on the Mickey Mouse hill is baffling to me. There are so many issues and topics that we should be dealing with.”

DeSantis has taken several controversial steps in his state in part to raise his profile as a potential candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. FiveThirtyEight, which aggregates polls, shows former President Donald Trump has widened his lead over DeSantis among Republicans, 51% to 24%.

Trump has attacked DeSantis over the fight with Disney, though mainly because, in the view of the former president, the company has gotten the better of the Florida governor.

Two DeSantis allies said the Disney lawsuit would not deter the Florida governor from eventually announcing his run for president, which he is expected to do during the first two weeks of June. One adviser said he does not back down from a fight when he thinks he is doing the right thing.

DeSantis’s Plan

That mentality has meant he has followed the political plan he and his advisers laid out in the winter to lead up to his presidential announcement — by passing conservative pieces of legislation in Florida and then going on a book tour to key political states to promote that record.

DeSantis and his aides have long believed that sticking to a particular course means they do not let Trump or current events distract them. But critics argue it’s also kept DeSantis from being more politically nimble to respond faster to attacks from the former president, or donors quietly pulling away from him over his positions on abortion, the war in Ukraine and even Disney.

Disney shares were little changed in New York trading at 2:40 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.

The case is Walt Disney Parks and Resorts v. DeSantis, 23-cv-00163, US District Court, Northern District of Florida (Tallahassee.)

--With assistance from Nancy Cook, Michael Smith and Christian Hall.

(Updates with reaction, political analysis.)

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