A board appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sued Monday Disney for control of the district that houses its amusement park in the state, in the latest episode of the battle between the company and the Republican politician.
The board thus responds to a lawsuit filed by Disney before a federal court five days ago, in which it accused the Florida authorities of “government revenge.”
At the center of the dispute is an agreement approved in the 1960s that allowed the company to manage the district where its Disney World park is located, near Orlando.
DeSantis ended that self-government after Disney last year criticized a law promoted by him that prohibits teaching issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity. in Florida schools.
The governor appointed a board in February to run the Disney district. Its five members, however, found themselves in for a surprise when they took office: the entertainment giant had approved a series of agreements that guaranteed it would maintain control over the expansion of the zone.
In the lawsuit filed Monday in an Orange County court, in central Florida, the board requests that those agreements be declared void.. “Disney hoped to tie the hands of the new independent board,” the plaintiffs say.
“But perhaps through haste or arrogance, the Disney agreements violate basic principles of Florida constitutional, statutory and common law. Therefore they are null and void, not even worth the paper they were printed on.”
The dispute between DeSantis, a new figure on the American right, and Disney, which employs more than 75,000 people in Florida, is part of the battle waged by the governor against politicians, teachers and companies whom he accuses of imposing their progressive ideology on others.
“It’s not right for a company to corrupt local government and run it as its own fiefdom,” the 44-year-old Republican said of Disney this Monday, during a press conference held in Titusville, central Florida.
With information from AFP
Source: Gestion
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