DeSantis uses Disney as proof he’ll fight ‘woke’ corporations

LAKE BUENA VISTA — As he declared victory over Walt Disney Co. on Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis lectured the corporate leaders of the state’s biggest employer in its lifeblood tourism industry.

He suggested new board members who will oversee Disney World’s reconstituted special district might want to influence the corporation’s new attractions, movies and other shows.

His appointees included the CEO of a Christian ministry and a leader in the conservative parental rights movement.

“All these board members very much would like to see the type of entertainment that all families can appreciate,” DeSantis said at the fire station that serves Disney World.

He featured an Osceola County parent who spoke about how she felt like Disney programming was changing and “promoting more and more immorality.” Conservatives have said they think Disney is injecting “woke ideology” into its business, such as greeting visitors with “dreamers of all ages” instead of “ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls” to be more gender inclusive.

DeSantis unleashed a line he’d used before: “There’s a new sheriff in town.”

Bryan Griffin, a DeSantis spokesman, later clarified that the board once known as Reedy Creek doesn’t direct Disney’s content. Its duties are primarily focused on providing the infrastructure and other government services needed to keep Disney World’s sprawling theme parks and resorts running.

“However, Gov. DeSantis was 100% correct to point out that many hope Disney will abandon its woke agenda,” Griffin said in an email. “The district board members are now in place and will be examining all of the needed actions to get back on track.”

As he mulls a presidential run, DeSantis wrote in the Wall Street Journal he is willing to fight when “big corporations make the mistake, as Disney did, of using their economic might to advance a political agenda.”

DeSantis touted his move to strip Disney of its self-governing powers in Florida in an op-ed titled “Why I Stood Up to Disney.”

“When corporations try to use their economic power to advance a woke agenda, they become political, and not merely economic, actors,” he wrote. “In such an environment, reflexively deferring to big business effectively surrenders the political battlefield to the militant left.”

DeSantis took on Disney after it issued a statement opposing the Parental Rights in Education law, which critics called the “don’t say gay” bill because it limits instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

DeSantis’ stance on corporate America highlights a split in recent years between big business and the Republican Party, said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale University business professor who has advised hundreds of CEOs and recent U.S. presidents.

Sonnenfeld said no politician has any business attempting to control a company’s decisions on content and how it interacts with its customers.

“It’s not the job of some hack politician to burst their way into corporate decision-making,” he said. “If he wants to have a voice in the corporation, let him take a controlling interest. Let him buy in. Let him be a shareholder and voice his concerns with other owners. But the owners of the business are the ones who decide what to do — not some grandiose, loudmouth politician looking to create attention.”

DeSantis’ position also puts him at odds with at least one of his potential GOP presidential rivals — former Vice President Mike Pence — and one of his top political donors.

Pence told CNBC last month he supported the Parental Rights in Education bill but didn’t think it was right to go after Disney’s district after the company spoke out in opposition.

“That was beyond the scope of what I as a conservative, limited-government Republican would be prepared to do,” Pence said.

Ken Griffin, CEO of the Citadel hedge fund and a GOP megadonor, said in May he didn’t “appreciate” DeSantis going after Disney’s special status in Florida law. He cautioned political leaders from both parties to “stay above the fray when it comes to the concept of retaliation against corporate America.”

Griffin told Politico in November he plans to back DeSantis if he runs for president, saying he is tired of former President Donald Trump and doesn’t expect to align with candidates on every issue.

Nevertheless, DeSantis has compiled a list of grievances against big business that could prove to be a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. He’s signed legislation taking aim at “Big Tech censorship.” He’s sought to dictate how corporate diversity training should be conducted.

He’s blocked companies from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination. He’s championing legislation this session to stop “woke” Wall Street investment practices.

As a powerful governor, his political committee has benefited from millions of dollars in contributions from the state’s business interests.

Although he’s clashed with business over cultural issues, he’s supported tax breaks, limits on lawsuits and other measures desired by corporations.

Disney lost none of its tax breaks even though it no longer controls the Reedy Creek board.

Democrats see DeSantis’ rhetoric on corporate accountability as baseless. State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said DeSantis hasn’t embraced policies to close corporate tax loopholes and other economic measures that would help Floridians.

“All of it is fake populism,” she said. “He pretends he is centered on the needs of working people, but he is about to bust unions. He has given billions of dollars away to corporations on tax breaks.”

New board to meet Wednesday

Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District is being renamed the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. New members will meet for the first time on Wednesday.

Under the old law, the district’s landowners elected board members, giving Disney control over members. Now, they are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Florida Senate, which at the moment is solidly controlled by Republicans friendly to DeSantis.

DeSantis named five Republicans to the board. Those members are Bridget Ziegler, a member of the Sarasota County School Board and a co-founder of the conservative group Moms for Liberty group; Seminole County attorney Michael Sasso; attorney Martin Garcia of Tampa, a DeSantis political donor;

Ron Peri, CEO of The Gathering USA, a ministry that focuses on faith and culture; and Clearwater attorney Brian Aungst.

Ziegler’s husband is Christian Ziegler, the recently elected chair of the Republican Party of Florida.

The Reedy Creek board oversees many of Disney’s government services, such as police and fire protection, trash removal, roads and drainage. It has the power to levy taxes and issue bonds.

Lawmakers allowed the district to keep most of its powers with a few exceptions, such as ending a provision that authorized the construction of a nuclear power plant. That’s an idea never seriously considered by Disney.

The board has no direct control over Disney’s business decisions, such as whether to close a ride or what to feature in its next cartoon. But DeSantis’ selection of likeminded conservatives indicate the board could try to pressure the entertainment giant by holding up projects and exerting public pressure, said Richard Foglesong, who wrote the book “Married to the Mouse” on Disney World’s origin story.

“It is the public works department and Disney runs the business, but those are not mutually exclusive,” said Foglesong, a professor at Rollins College. “The one gives you leverage over the other. I could see ways in which through running the fire department, planning and zoning and engineering, DeSantis would gain leverage over what the business is doing to the consternation of the executives on the business side.”

Disney hasn’t publicly expressed concerns about the new board. Disney will work within the new framework and is used to working “under a number of models and jurisdictions around the world,” Jeff Vahle, president of Walt Disney World Resort, said in statements issued when the bill first passed last month.

Sonnenfeld said he expects Disney will continue to make the “same smart, wise content decisions,” and there is “zero chance that [Disney CEO] Bob Iger is going to be modeling themselves after Fox News.”

“Disney has an awful lot of parks to invest in elsewhere,” he said. “They can certainly grow at the expense of Orlando. It is hard to see how that is going to help Orlando. ... If they start to have infrastructure issues and hassles like this, this isn’t a problem for Disney to not just build out in California but elsewhere.”

DeSantis hinted that the board will consider boosting pay for the district’s firefighters and emergency personnel who serve Disney World. He also suggested the board could require Disney to pay more for transportation projects.

John Classe has served as the district’s administrator since 2016. He has a background in real estate. Before coming to Reedy Creek, he served as vice president at Pritzker Real Estate Group, where he managed the strategic direction for all planning, design and construction of Baldwin Park in Orlando.

It’s unclear at this point whether the new board will retain him.

Resonating with supporters

The governor’s fans are happy that DeSantis took action against Disney. One supporter showed up at a DeSantis book signing event in Jacksonville with a “DeSantis World” T-shirt, done in Disney’s famous script.

Evan Power, vice chairman of the Florida GOP, said he didn’t view the state takeover of the district as political retribution or anti-business.

Instead, it was about doing away with perks that Disney’s competitors, SeaWorld and Universal Studios, didn’t enjoy.

But, he added, “These corporations need to do what their job is, which is maximize profits to their shareholders — not promote a social agenda.”

State lawmakers approved the unique special government in 1967 to secure Disney’s decision to build its East Coast Disneyland in the Sunshine State.

Culture war issues likely will be at the forefront of the Republican presidential primary, and DeSantis knows that, said David Jolly, a former Republican who represented the Tampa area in Congress.

That’s why he is challenging corporations, even if it goes against the GOP’s limited government principles of the past, he said.

“It is a reflection of what Donald Trump brought to the Republican Party,” Jolly said. “Donald Trump tapped into the angry populist, Main Street narrative. You’ve seen the party has evolved.”

sswisher@orlandosentinel.com