(TheLastPatriotNews.com) – The clash between Ron DeSantis and Walt Disney Co. has escalated with a new lawsuit filed by the woke entertainment company against Florida’s Republican governor.
Disney’s suit against DeSantis and other state leaders claimed they had launched a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” because of its public criticism of state legislation last year.
The 77-page lawsuit argues the DeSantis administration has weaponized the power of the state government against Disney in “as clear a case of retaliation as this Court is ever likely to see,” as quoted by The National Review.
DeSantis decided to crack down on Disney’s political influence and fiscal privileges in Florida after last year, the company denounced his Parental Rights in Education Act that banned sexuality and gender discussions in schools through the third grade. Leftist mainstream media have dubbed the law the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
Disney’s fresh legal action against Florida’s government comes after earlier on Wednesday, a meeting of the DeSantis-appointed board in charge of the Disney World special district canceled two deals approved by the previous board members, who the corporation controlled.
Last week, the governor gave a press conference, saying the agreements the previous board struck with Disney were illegal and “direct defiance of the will of the people of Florida.”
He vowed new legislation to revoke any previous development agreements with the company, plus additional measures.
DeSantis’s deputy press secretary, Jeremy Redfern, told the Daily Caller the governor’s office was “unaware of any legal right that a company has to operate its own government or maintain special privileges not held by other businesses in the state.”
“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,” Redfern said.
Besides DeSantis, Disney’s new lawsuit also targets the five members of the special district board that he has appointed under new state legislation, plus other state officials.
“A targeted campaign of government retaliation — orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech — now threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights,” the lawsuit states.
“Today’s action is the latest strike: At the Governor’s bidding, the State’s oversight board has purported to ‘void’ publicly noticed and duly agreed development contracts, which had laid the foundation for billions of Disney’s investment dollars and thousands of jobs,” the lawsuit argues further.
“This government action was patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional. But the Governor and his allies have made clear they do not care and will not stop,” Disney’s lawyers added.
Besides promising new legislation, during his press conference last week, DeSantis also vowed that his new board controlling the former Reedy Creek Improvement District would raise taxes on the entertainment company, ban mask-wearing mandates, build more housing for workers, require warnings against child trafficking inside the Disney resorts, sell the district’s utilities, and create a new amusement park or state prison there.
Disney sued @GovRonDeSantis, alleging that he is involved in a “targeted campaign of government retaliation." | @ryanamills77 https://t.co/W1ViX8dhqx
— National Review (@NRO) April 26, 2023
