Disney CEO Bob Iger delighted the Web final week when The Walt Disney Firm smacked down Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with the slickest misdirect since Lightning McQueen discovered to float left by turning proper.
However don’t let the jokes distract you from the truth that this was a battle that by no means ought to have occurred.
DeSantis and his allies within the Florida legislature had been attempting to scuttle the Disney-controlled Reedy Creek Enchancment District that governs the Walt Disney World Resort’s land. Florida’s transfer got here after former CEO Bob Chapek criticized the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Homosexual” legislation. However earlier than the legislature voted to approve Reedy Creek’s alternative with the brand new, DeSantis-controlled Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, Reedy Creek’s board accredited a Declaration of Restrictive Covenants that gave Disney Parks management over the resort’s planning and zoning for years to return.
However Disney didn't cease there.
To protect in opposition to a authorized prohibition of perpetuities, Reedy Creek tied its declaration to the lifespan of the final surviving present descendent of King Charles III. Sure, that signifies that management of the Walt Disney World Resort is now tied to the lifetime of a literal princess (or prince).
How very Disney. All that was lacking from Reedy Creek’s motion was a bit outdated fairy godmother telling the Florida legislature, “Bless your coronary heart.”
After DeSantis and his allies complained, Disney issued a press release that “All agreements signed between Disney and the District had been applicable, and had been mentioned and accredited in open, seen public boards in compliance with Florida’s Authorities within the Sunshine legislation.”
To that finish, the corporate purchased categorized adverts within the Orlando Sentinel’s authorized notices part prematurely of the assembly, telling everybody who bothered to learn them precisely what Reedy Creek deliberate to do, and when. Effectively, let that be a lesson — at all times learn the newspaper.
One other lesson from this farce ought to be that the notion of an organization working its personal authorities is insane. Disney’s competitor Common has constructed a world-class resort simply up the highway in Orlando, below the inspection of native metropolis and county authorities. Not even Disney must be exempt from that type of oversight.
However what DeSantis proposed was not voter-controlled oversight. It was an influence seize.