Ron DeSantis Escalates His Fight With Disney; Mentions Possibility of Building State Prison on Land Adjacent to Disneyworld

This escalation comes after Disney's escalation. Just before DeSantis' replacements for the Reedy Creek development board were set to come in, the old Disney-shill members voted all of the board's authority to be transferred to the Disney Corporation for all of eternity, or at least as close as is legally possible:

The newly created Central Florida Tourism Oversight District says the binding agreement passed last month by the previous board hands Disney total power over development of the area.

The declaration is valid until "21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England", according to the document.
The King in GermanyImage source, Getty Images

Such so-called royal lives clauses have been inserted into legal documentation since the late 17th Century, and they are still found in some contracts in the UK, though rarely in the US.

And he talked about playing hardball until Disney relents.

DeSantis is fighting this obviously-illegal transfer of political power to a corporation and will get it revoked in court or by the legislature, or both.

The Florida Legislature will reassert that the state has control of Disney World's Reedy Creek Improvement District, Gov. Ron DeSantis declared in the theme park's backyard Monday.

At a news conference in Lake Buena Vista, DeSantis also said lawmakers would take away the company's self-inspection of rides and monorails and allow the state to examine a ride if someone is seriously injured on it.

He then mused about potentially selling off utilities, and even developing district land that Disney doesn't own.

"People are like, 'Well, ... what should we do with this land?" said a smiling DeSantis. "... Maybe create a state park, maybe try to do more amusement parks? Someone even said, 'Maybe you need another state prison?' Who knows? I just think that the possibilities are endless."

He also said the last-minute moves by the outgoing board to grant Disney wide-ranging powers over the district had a "plethora of legal infirmities" and that a provision of state law allowed the state to revoke such development agreements.

DeSantis' hand-picked oversight board, which will meet on Wednesday, will also consider revoking the development agreement and other measures, he said.

The governor said lawmakers could move on the bills as soon as next week.

Asked whether the state would take away the ride inspection exemption granted to all major theme parks in the state, including Universal Orlando, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Legoland, DeSantis suggested only Disney would be affected.

More:

DeSantis threatens to build a PRISON next to Disney as payback for trying to strip his powers: Florida Governor ramps up Reedy Creek war and refuses to let 'corporate kingdom' serve 'as its own government'

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DeSantis railed against the Disney corporation for trying to outmaneuver him when it cut a special deal with the old oversight board it controlled before the new board, appointed by him, took over.

'They thought that they could create some type of development agreements that would essentially render everything that we did null and void and put them in control in perpetuity for this. Well that's not going to work. That's not going to fly,' he said.

He said legislation is in the works to nullify that agreement.

'One of the Florida's statutes provides the legislature with the authority to revoke development agreements in this exact type of instance,' he said during the press conference.

'And so I've worked with both leaders of the House and Senate. There is a bill that will be put out in the Florida Legislature that will make sure that the agreements purported to be entered into by Disney are revoked and the people's will is established,' he noted.

'We will not have one corporation serving as its own government,' he declared.

He said that even if the legislature didn't revoke the agreement, the deal wouldn't hold up legally, calling it a 'sham agreement.'

...

'For them to try to do an end run around the people of Florida to shows how arrogant they are,' the governor told iHeart radio in Orlando Monday morning.

'We are also going to have our state control board meet on Wednesday. And they're going to be unveiling a series of initiatives designed to make sure that Disney is held accountable and so stay tuned for those as well.'

A source tells The Federalist's Tristan Justice that this corrupt scheme is void.

According to Florida statute, local governments -- in this case, the Reedy Creek board -- are required to take three steps when making changes to special district agreements such as the one that established Disney's quasi-governmental status. They must hold two public hearings, advertise those hearings in a local newspaper, and offer notice by mail to "all affected property owners before the first public hearing."

In a statement to the Associated Press, Disney said the agreements took place in public.

"All agreements signed between Disney and the District were appropriate, and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida's Government in the Sunshine law," the company said.

Disney's first hearing on the issue was held Jan. 25, and the second on Feb. 8. The company advertised proceedings in the Orlando Sentinel. The last requirement of Florida law, however, that all affected property owners be given notice by mail, was skipped entirely, according to sources familiar with Disney's proceedings. The missed mandate means the company would have to restart the process for its 11th-hour resolution to be valid.

The Florida Governor suggests the state may sell Reedy Creek utilities to a private entity. It should be noted that utility companies such as Duke Energy have donated heavily to the Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC. pic.twitter.com/eCSwj3xC2s

— Mickey Views (@MickeyViews) April 17, 2023

posted by Ace at 05:30 PM

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