Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' office Wednesday pushed back against the Walt Disney Co. lawsuit against him, calling it an "unfortunate example" of the company's actions against 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," a statement DeSantis' deputy press secretary Jeremy Redfern posted on Twitter Wednesday afternoon said.
It added that the Republican governor's office is "unaware of any legal right that a company has to operate its government or maintain special privileges not held by other businesses in the state."
Disney and DeSantis have been fighting for over a year after the entertainment company, one of Florida's largest employers, criticized a state law that bans discussions of sexuality and gender identity in schools.
On Wednesday, Disney accused DeSantis of conducting a "relentless campaign to weaponize government power" over the company and claimed that he "orchestrated" the campaign to punish Disney for liberal political views.
DeSantis' first move against Disney came in a special legislative session in April, 2022, when lawmakers voted to dissolve the special taxing district that was created for the company in 1967 to help it develop its property near Orlando, reports The Washington Post.
After that move, concerns soon arose over what local government officials called a $1 billion debt bomb from Disney's tax and debt burdens and said they would have to raise taxes on property owners to pay for what the district had funded in the past.
In February, DeSantis held a special session that kept the tax district and replaced Disney's board with a new entity, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board.
However, when the new board convened in March, it found the outgoing Disney board handed its power over to Disney. It voted on Wednesday to overturn that move, leaving Disney's next move to sue DeSantis.
"The company is left with 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," it said in the lawsuit.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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