DeSantis Makes Disney Pay up but Mike Pence Isn’t Happy

For many months now, dating back to the uproar over the so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill that passed the Florida legislature in early 2022 and was supported by voters overwhelmingly, Gov. Ron DeSantis has been in a mini battle with the Walt Disney Company.

For decades, ever since Disney’s entrance into the state in the late 1960s, both parties worked in a mutually beneficial arrangement. Disney received large tax breaks to build near Orlando and the state of Florida reaped the benefits of the world’s premier family theme park bringing in billions of tourism dollars over the years and providing thousands of jobs.

Then, back in March of last year, Disney made the fatal mistake of trashing its family-friendly brand and entering the political fray over the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill proposed by the Florida legislature. The legislation had nothing to do with saying specific words, of course, and was simply aimed at banning the teaching and discussion of sexually questionable material to elementary school students.

In short, Disney joined the bandwagon due to a handful of left-wing activist employees and wound up on the wrong side of just about everyone. Even half of Florida Democrats supported the bill as any decent parent would. There’s no need for a teacher to explain sexuality or transgenderism to a six-year-old, just teach them to add and subtract.

As a result of Disney’s woke activism, the state of Florida decided to reconsider its prior tax arrangement, a change that was long overdue and basically amounted to a corporate welfare giveaway to a multi-billion dollar corporation.

Just days ago, Gov. DeSantis followed through on his promise to strip Disney of its special treatment and sweetheart tax status, a move meant to level the playing field for all Florida theme parks and tourist destinations:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Monday to take control of municipal services and development for the special zone encompassing Walt Disney World. The move deals a major blow to the company’s ability to operate with autonomy.

DeSantis says that the special district surrounding Disney World has enabled the park to unfairly skirt local rules and building codes.

“The corporate kingdom finally comes to an end,” DeSantis said during a news conference announcing the move on Monday. “There’s a new sheriff in town, and accountability will be the order of the day.”

The heart of the bill is the appointment of a five-person state board to oversee municipal services, such as fire protection and road maintenance, where Disney World operates.

For months, Disney had been trying to convince the Florida legislature to reverse course but the writing was already on the wall. The deal is done, Disney will be treated like every other Florida business once its special tax status is wound down and prior debts are paid.

Former Vice President Mike Pence is unhappy with the move against Disney and criticized DeSantis calling him heavy-handed:

Appearing on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday, Pence said he thought DeSantis went too far when he retaliated against family-favorite Disney World by stripping the company of its self-governing status.

“I have concerns about the follow on,” Pence said. “Disney stepped into the fray, they lost, but then the taxing authority — that was beyond the scope of what I, as a conservative, limited-government Republican would be prepared to do.”

Pence is trying to thread a pretty tight needle here and his logic doesn’t follow itself. While he claims to support the goals of the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, he doesn’t think Disney should pay a price for stepping into the political fray, and that’s fine. However, to argue that giving billion-dollar corporations ongoing corporate welfare is the “limited-government” position seems far-fetched.

The limited-government position would say that the state of Florida never should’ve made the sweetheart deal with Disney back in the 1960s to begin with. It was a corporate carveout if there ever was one, but it paid off big for both sides down the road. The deal was crafted under the purview of the state and the state reserved the right to rescind the deal at any time. There was no permanence or specific time frame attached to the original land/tax deal Disney entered into.

The contrast here is that DeSantis decisively won re-election by some 20 points in November because Republicans are looking for a fighter that isn’t afraid to engage in the woke culture wars of the day. His position on Disney was clear and voters handed him a mandate to keep fighting.

Disney was the one who started the battle and began attacking Florida lawmakers who were trying to keep inappropriate topics and content out of elementary school classrooms. DeSantis took offense to Disney’s position and intentional mischaracterization of the bill and decided the state of Florida was no longer going to be pushed around by its corporate inhabitants, a move Florida residents supported overwhelmingly.

It’s an illustration of what it looks like to be the “everyone get along” politician, like Pence, that will consistently lose or avoid battles compared to the cultural activist that will push back against woke indoctrination and stand up for kids and parents, like DeSantis.

Liberals should applaud the move since they’ve been using government power for years to punish and harass private entities they don’t like whether it’s the Tea Party movement, the National Rifle Association, or companies like Hobby Lobby and Chik-fil-a.