ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Governor Ron DeSantis has followed the autocratic examples of the Russian and Chinese governments, a group of former senior government officials — mostly Republicans — said, calling the takeover of the Disney World district by the governor of Florida as “extremely detrimental to the political, social and economic fabric of the state”.
The group of former governors, former US House lawmakers and former presidential officials filed an amicus curiae motion Wednesday in Disney’s federal lawsuit against DeSantis and the officials he appointed to the district board that governs Disney World. Disney’s lawsuit says the Republican governor violated the company’s rights to free speech by seizing control of the district after Disney publicly opposed the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, which banned orientation lessons. sexuality and gender identity in primary education classrooms.
The goal of the group’s report released last week is to demonstrate “how the path the governor has chosen is corrosive to the form of democracy envisioned by the Constitution, and to emphasize once again the crucial constitutional role this court plays in stopping the excesses that the government commits through the application of reprisals,” according to documents filed with the court.
In particular, the group claims that DeSantis’s actions hurt Florida economically because companies are discouraged from doing business in the state and could be subject to retaliatory action by the governor if they disagree with his actions. policies. The group noted that Disney has canceled plans to build a $1 billion Orlando campus that would have relocated 2,000 employees from Southern California, following a year of attacks by DeSantis.
The group is made up of two former Republican governors, Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey and Arne Carlson of Minnesota; three former Republican House of Representatives legislators, Tom Coleman of Missouri, Claudine Schneider of Rhode Island, and Christopher Shays of Connecticut; and a host of lawyers, commissioners, bureau chiefs and other officials from previous presidential administrations, both Republican and Democrat.
DeSantis took his actions in retaliation to discourage Disney and others from speaking out against his policies in the future, the officials said, comparing what he did to autocratic acts by Russia and China.
“The fact that Governor DeSantis has taken these undemocratic actions in such a flagrant and brazen way — that he is proud of them — only makes them more damaging to the political and social fabric of Florida and the entire country,” they said.
An email was sent Sunday morning to a spokesman for the governor’s office in Tallahassee seeking comment. The Reporters Commission on Freedom of the Press has also filed a paper in support of Disney, arguing that a Florida governor’s win would embolden governments across the country to take action against journalists and other media outlets when they exercise their established rights. in the First Amendment to the Constitution.
DeSantis, a contender for the 2024 Republican Party presidential nomination, is seeking to have Disney’s lawsuit dismissed in federal court in Tallahassee. The governor argues that Disney is barred from suing because of the legislative immunity that protects officials involved in the process of creating the laws, and that the company lacks standing because it cannot show that it has been harmed.
DeSantis appointees took control of the Disney World district this year after a year-long dispute between the company and the governor. The disagreement began last year after Disney, plagued by significant internal and external pressure, publicly opposed a state law that prohibits classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in the early school years, a move that its detractors call “Don’t say gay”.
In punishment, Republican lawmakers approved a bill to redevelop the district, and DeSantis appointed a new board of supervisors to manage city services for the sprawling theme parks and hotels. Disney sued DeSantis and the five people he appointed to the board in federal court, saying the governor violated the company’s free speech rights by retaliating.
Before the new board took office, Disney reached agreements with former pro-Disney board members that stripped the new supervisors of their design and development authority. DeSantis’s appointees to the district government have filed a lawsuit against Disney in state court, in a second case resulting from the takeover of the district, with the aim of invalidating those agreements.
