DeSantis needs to worry about important things going on in Florida and leave Disney alone. He complains about Mexicans coming over the border but because his wife is Cuban and wealthy Cubans give him money, he turns his back on the thousands of illegals pouring into Miami. Miami is overrun with illegals pouring in from Cuba and yet he wants to send our troops to protect the Mexican border! God forbid he should stop the influx of illegals pouring in from Cuba, that would not sit good with his wife and certainly would not go over well with his wealthy friends…but yeah, go after Disney. Disney company that brings thousands of jobs and money to Central Florida.
Pamela, get your facts straight.
Governor’s wife, Casey DeSantis, is not Cuban nor is she of Cuban descent. And-Cubans are not flowing in illegally -any Cuban that enters by land or sea are immediately sent back to Cuba because there’s an expatriation treaty with Cuba’s government to do do
Roni’s mother’s family name, Rogers, was chosen by her grandfather upon immigrating from Italy. All of his great-grandparents immigrated from Southern Italy during the first Italian diaspora. His parents and all of his grandparents were born and grew up in Western Pennsylvania and Northeast Ohio.
Casey DeSantis was born in Zanesville, Ohio and her mother, Jeanne Caponigro, is the daughter of a Sicilian immigrant.
So, you can see Casey and Roni are quite ethnically matched.
As far as Cuban illegals flowing into the country, Pamela may have a case as of yet this year this has not been a newsworthy topic, but last year it seemed to be with the largest influx being 500 persons. While Mari, may be correct about the expatriation program would this apply to those who were successful in their landings and entries unnoticed?
Pamila is definitely correct that as governor, Roni has more pressing matters than rewriting a 60-year-old contract between the State of Florida and the Disney Corp. over control of a special district, especially when he is happy to grant one to Universal Florida at the same time, they restructure and take control of Disney’s.
DeSenceless needs to leave Disney alone! He can give all the money he’s spending to the people struggling to pay the high insurance bills. Leave the Gays alone too.
If Roni left Disney alone, why would they sue him? Did he not direct the state legislators to remove the special district WDW sits on? They found that would cause big problems for the surrounding counties, so instead they rewrote the 60-yr-old contract pertaining to the district and restructure the board giving the governor the ability to appoint a member majority allowing control of the district. This legislation was blocked by a contract between the old board and WDW, the day before the new board and contract was set to take effect. This is the cause of the Orange County lawsuit, CFTOD vs. Disney Co. The federal lawsuit which Winsor ruled on was in light of the State of FL’s use of legislation (remember the rewritten contract) as retaliation for the Disney Co. CEO, speaking on behalf of the employees against the “Don’t Say Gay Bill.” Unfortunately, either Disney’s lawyers didn’t present the case in a way that made this clear and cite enough instances where this type of legislative action has been cited as illegal and the conditions returned to pre-legislative conditions or Winsor just let those arguments go in one ear and out the other as he remained biased to partisan politics when ruling in favor of Roni and the State and citing a case that does not sound relevant. To let this ruling stand and not appeal is not in any business’s best interest because the precedence set make it possible for any politician or government entity to write a piece of legislation damaging to any business that speaks out against a piece of legislation as long as the politician or government entity phrases it in such a way that it is legal at face value. In short, this makes political retaliation legal. Up to this point, this has been illegal.
Disney is just fine DeSantan needs to go. He should have been gone when he suspended his run for president. But no he passed a law to keep his job while he seeks other employment opportunities that should have been a decision made by the citizens of Florida not a law he signed because he knew that he would lose that battle. Now Floridians have to endure the high heel wearing weasel that obsessed with the LBGTQ COMUNITY yet he is wearing heels too a classic case of the pot calling kettle black. What’s your hidden agenda Ronnie are you jealous don’t be just come out your mommy will still love you
We need to start a petition to decide if we Mr and Mrs taxpayers wants to pay governor’s to seek other employment on our dime. No employers I know or ever had would pay me while I’m looking for another job
Totally agree with you.. let’s try to get Florida back on track… there are too many issues here in Florida that need a good governor to manage… maybe we will be lucky with the next one??
I really don’t understand why the judge decided that he wouldn’t look at the actions and motivations behind the law(s) that were passed. That makes no sense to me. And it does set a dangerous path forward. other states and governments in the US will see this ruling and write laws that are motivated to retaliate against someone or a group but write them in a way that is constitutionally sound. I don’t think that is how the US should operate. People won’t speak up and express their minds so the first amendment is done.
I think if Walt was alive this wouldn’t be happening. He made it affordable for families to visit the Kingdom without going bankrupt.A. Disney has gone to far
They didn’t “change a law”, they simply enforced what were already laws. I thought the leftists didn’t like special corporate treatments? Why are they so upset Disney now is like everyone else?
Then why are they applying those existing laws only to Disney and not to other special districts in the state? Why isn’t DeSantis going after The Villages? I guess the right-wing folk like SELECTIVE corporate treatment.
You are absolutely wrong, Steve. You don’t know much about this case, do you? The state rewrote a 60-yr-old contract because they couldn’t simply remove the district agreed upon without causing financial harm to the surrounding counties. They rewrote the legislation (aka the laws) within the contract to give the governor the ability to appoint a member majority to the preexisting board and renamed the district to make it sound more like the function he wishes it to project (just a watchdog) and not what he wishes its function to be (as intrusive as it can). You do understand the board does not actually perform oversight of tourism, just of Disney’s Florida Property? Thus, making Disney unlike everyone else. No other business in the state has the governor in control of what their business can do and how it determines its growth on the properties it owns. The CFTOD board controls much more than any county has control of when dealing with individual businesses if the Orange County lawsuit is found in their favor. It’s not just taxes, roads, utilities, and such, but the original board was granted other powers that Disney wishes to keep control of, such as use of its logo, character images, etc. This being done at the same as the state granting Universal Florida with a special district of its own. Make sense to ya?
Paula, I’ve tried to elaborate on what Dodger was trying to get you to look into.
Dodger, I hope this is what you had in mind.
Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010, upholding the rights of corporations to make unlimited political expenditures under the First Amendment, there have been several calls for a Constitutional amendment to abolish corporate personhood. The Citizens United majority opinion makes no reference to corporate personhood or the Fourteenth Amendment, but rather argues that political speech rights do not depend on the identity of the speaker, which could be a person or an association of people.
Federal statutes that refer to “persons” generally include both natural and juridical ones, unless a different definition is given. This general rule of interpretation is specified in Title 1, section 1 of the U.S. Code, known as the Dictionary Act, which states:
In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, unless the context indicates otherwise—
the words “person” and “whoever” include corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals;
This federal statute has many consequences. For example, a corporation is allowed to own property and enter contracts. It can also sue and be sued and held liable under both civil and criminal law. As well, because the corporation is legally considered the “person”, individual shareholders are not legally responsible for the corporation’s debts and damages beyond their investment in the corporation. Similarly, individual employees, managers, and directors are liable for their own malfeasance or lawbreaking while acting on behalf of the corporation but are not generally liable for the corporation’s actions.
The corporate personhood aspect of the campaign finance debate turns on Buckley v. Valeo (1976) and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010): Buckley ruled that political spending is protected by the First Amendment right to free speech, while Citizens United ruled that corporate political spending is protected, holding that corporations have a First Amendment right to free speech because they are “associations of citizens” and hold the collected rights of the individual citizens who constitute them. While this deals with essentially voicing your opinion or voting with your pocketbook, the fact that your free speech rights are protected while doing so is the point I’m trying to illustrate here. A corporation therefore should also have protections when its representatives voice their opinions orally as well.
The above means that when the CEO of Disney was making his statements through the Disney Co. on behalf of Disney employees, it should be considered the equivalent of any individual voicing their views on this political matter and not just a company’s views. Thus, the company as a “person” affords it 1st Amendment rights for free speech and, therefore, protection against retaliation through legislation.
Amazing how Disney World managed for 50 years without you, Governor. Leave them alone and work on I-4 traffic, taxes and other important things. You’ve lost my vote for anything.
Explain how they were getting a free ride? Make sure to research your information to 1st verify your lead off statement was valid and 2nd to ensure your response is equally valid. I believe that you will have real trouble validating your initial comment which will nullify your need of a response.
DeSantis needs to leave Disney alone! He should worry about the state! He’s not going to be on peoples good side when it comes to reelection. Thank goodness he dropped out of the presidential race. My own opinion.
DeSantis needs to Concentrate on the real Florida issues and stop picking on the largest employer of Floridians in Florida. Ultimately this fight will came back to haunt him. It’s a shame he doesn’t see it…
Publix—not Disney, is the largest employer in Florida. Our university system also employs more people. Advent health systems has more employees just in Central Florida than Disney does. I’d suggest that all three of these industries are more important to the state’s wellbeing than Disney. They’ve had a great run and I’d venture to say that Disney owes Florida a lot more than Florida owes it. Times are changing and Disney needs to keep up. Or they can just go ruin some other part of rural
America. We’ll survive.
When it comes to claims of biggest company in FL it is dependent on many variables which change the rankings on the list. Publix is not the biggest company headquartered in FL, this belongs to DPWN Holdings (USA), Inc., a Deutsche Post AG subsidiary, with 546,924 employees and an annual revenue of $61.0B. Publix has an annual revenue of $36.1 billion and a workforce of 225,000 associates. Because Disney is headquartered in Burbank, CA it doesn’t even post. But according to the same website it has an annual revenue of $82.7 billion and employs 223,000 individuals.
When one looks at a company’s annual revenue it doesn’t tell the actual money the company made for that year. Disney in 2022 made $82,722M in annual revenue, but netted a big whopping $3,505M. Of this profit, some was returned to the company to begin next year, while the rest was spread as dividends to the 1822 shareholders which amounted to $1.73.
As a Native Floridian who visited Disney world when it first opened, Disney has done wonderful and not so wonderful things for our great state throughout the years, but corporate greed has made it lose most of its magic. I’d predict Walt is turning in his grave. Today, it should not enjoy any more benefits than any other corporation in the state—irregardless of its politics.
Comments for DeSantis Calls Disney a “Mistake” and Issues New Warning
Not-a-sheep
Excellent!
Mary Bailey
Ron Desantis is the worst Governor that Florida has with Rick Scott not far behind
Dennis
De Santi and Rick the worst
For sure
Rick
Stop wasting FL taxpayer dollars on DeSantis’ personal vendetta and power hungry agenda.
Sue
Disney needs to get the hell out of Florida and take all the entitlement with them.
Pamela Standish
DeSantis needs to worry about important things going on in Florida and leave Disney alone. He complains about Mexicans coming over the border but because his wife is Cuban and wealthy Cubans give him money, he turns his back on the thousands of illegals pouring into Miami. Miami is overrun with illegals pouring in from Cuba and yet he wants to send our troops to protect the Mexican border! God forbid he should stop the influx of illegals pouring in from Cuba, that would not sit good with his wife and certainly would not go over well with his wealthy friends…but yeah, go after Disney. Disney company that brings thousands of jobs and money to Central Florida.
Mari
Governor’s wife, Casey DeSantis, is not Cuban nor Cuban descent. Cubans are not flowing in illegally
Sarina
Actually Cubans are as well as Mexican Russian and Chinese.
Mari
Pamela, get your facts straight.
Governor’s wife, Casey DeSantis, is not Cuban nor is she of Cuban descent. And-Cubans are not flowing in illegally -any Cuban that enters by land or sea are immediately sent back to Cuba because there’s an expatriation treaty with Cuba’s government to do do
jo028229
Roni’s mother’s family name, Rogers, was chosen by her grandfather upon immigrating from Italy. All of his great-grandparents immigrated from Southern Italy during the first Italian diaspora. His parents and all of his grandparents were born and grew up in Western Pennsylvania and Northeast Ohio.
Casey DeSantis was born in Zanesville, Ohio and her mother, Jeanne Caponigro, is the daughter of a Sicilian immigrant.
So, you can see Casey and Roni are quite ethnically matched.
As far as Cuban illegals flowing into the country, Pamela may have a case as of yet this year this has not been a newsworthy topic, but last year it seemed to be with the largest influx being 500 persons. While Mari, may be correct about the expatriation program would this apply to those who were successful in their landings and entries unnoticed?
Pamila is definitely correct that as governor, Roni has more pressing matters than rewriting a 60-year-old contract between the State of Florida and the Disney Corp. over control of a special district, especially when he is happy to grant one to Universal Florida at the same time, they restructure and take control of Disney’s.
Mickey Dancel
DeSenceless needs to leave Disney alone! He can give all the money he’s spending to the people struggling to pay the high insurance bills. Leave the Gays alone too.
Steve
He did leave them alone. THEY sued him! Why is that hard for you to understand?
jo028229
If Roni left Disney alone, why would they sue him? Did he not direct the state legislators to remove the special district WDW sits on? They found that would cause big problems for the surrounding counties, so instead they rewrote the 60-yr-old contract pertaining to the district and restructure the board giving the governor the ability to appoint a member majority allowing control of the district. This legislation was blocked by a contract between the old board and WDW, the day before the new board and contract was set to take effect. This is the cause of the Orange County lawsuit, CFTOD vs. Disney Co. The federal lawsuit which Winsor ruled on was in light of the State of FL’s use of legislation (remember the rewritten contract) as retaliation for the Disney Co. CEO, speaking on behalf of the employees against the “Don’t Say Gay Bill.” Unfortunately, either Disney’s lawyers didn’t present the case in a way that made this clear and cite enough instances where this type of legislative action has been cited as illegal and the conditions returned to pre-legislative conditions or Winsor just let those arguments go in one ear and out the other as he remained biased to partisan politics when ruling in favor of Roni and the State and citing a case that does not sound relevant. To let this ruling stand and not appeal is not in any business’s best interest because the precedence set make it possible for any politician or government entity to write a piece of legislation damaging to any business that speaks out against a piece of legislation as long as the politician or government entity phrases it in such a way that it is legal at face value. In short, this makes political retaliation legal. Up to this point, this has been illegal.
Sandra Price
Disney is just fine DeSantan needs to go. He should have been gone when he suspended his run for president. But no he passed a law to keep his job while he seeks other employment opportunities that should have been a decision made by the citizens of Florida not a law he signed because he knew that he would lose that battle. Now Floridians have to endure the high heel wearing weasel that obsessed with the LBGTQ COMUNITY yet he is wearing heels too a classic case of the pot calling kettle black. What’s your hidden agenda Ronnie are you jealous don’t be just come out your mommy will still love you
We need to start a petition to decide if we Mr and Mrs taxpayers wants to pay governor’s to seek other employment on our dime. No employers I know or ever had would pay me while I’m looking for another job
.
Deedee
Totally agree with you.. let’s try to get Florida back on track… there are too many issues here in Florida that need a good governor to manage… maybe we will be lucky with the next one??
Cheesy Floridian
I really don’t understand why the judge decided that he wouldn’t look at the actions and motivations behind the law(s) that were passed. That makes no sense to me. And it does set a dangerous path forward. other states and governments in the US will see this ruling and write laws that are motivated to retaliate against someone or a group but write them in a way that is constitutionally sound. I don’t think that is how the US should operate. People won’t speak up and express their minds so the first amendment is done.
Mrs Cruz
I think if Walt was alive this wouldn’t be happening. He made it affordable for families to visit the Kingdom without going bankrupt.A. Disney has gone to far
Isabel
AGREED WITH YOU I
Cheryl
Totally agree!
Steve
They didn’t “change a law”, they simply enforced what were already laws. I thought the leftists didn’t like special corporate treatments? Why are they so upset Disney now is like everyone else?
Dodger
Then why are they applying those existing laws only to Disney and not to other special districts in the state? Why isn’t DeSantis going after The Villages? I guess the right-wing folk like SELECTIVE corporate treatment.
George
Because the left loves the part of child sex and human trafficking
jo028229
You are absolutely wrong, Steve. You don’t know much about this case, do you? The state rewrote a 60-yr-old contract because they couldn’t simply remove the district agreed upon without causing financial harm to the surrounding counties. They rewrote the legislation (aka the laws) within the contract to give the governor the ability to appoint a member majority to the preexisting board and renamed the district to make it sound more like the function he wishes it to project (just a watchdog) and not what he wishes its function to be (as intrusive as it can). You do understand the board does not actually perform oversight of tourism, just of Disney’s Florida Property? Thus, making Disney unlike everyone else. No other business in the state has the governor in control of what their business can do and how it determines its growth on the properties it owns. The CFTOD board controls much more than any county has control of when dealing with individual businesses if the Orange County lawsuit is found in their favor. It’s not just taxes, roads, utilities, and such, but the original board was granted other powers that Disney wishes to keep control of, such as use of its logo, character images, etc. This being done at the same as the state granting Universal Florida with a special district of its own. Make sense to ya?
Paula
Disney is a for profit corporation—not a person or a group.
Dodger
Paula, it sounds like you need to educate yourself. Take a moment to google Citizens United and thank me later.
jo028229
Paula, I’ve tried to elaborate on what Dodger was trying to get you to look into.
Dodger, I hope this is what you had in mind.
Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010, upholding the rights of corporations to make unlimited political expenditures under the First Amendment, there have been several calls for a Constitutional amendment to abolish corporate personhood. The Citizens United majority opinion makes no reference to corporate personhood or the Fourteenth Amendment, but rather argues that political speech rights do not depend on the identity of the speaker, which could be a person or an association of people.
Federal statutes that refer to “persons” generally include both natural and juridical ones, unless a different definition is given. This general rule of interpretation is specified in Title 1, section 1 of the U.S. Code, known as the Dictionary Act, which states:
In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, unless the context indicates otherwise—
the words “person” and “whoever” include corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals;
This federal statute has many consequences. For example, a corporation is allowed to own property and enter contracts. It can also sue and be sued and held liable under both civil and criminal law. As well, because the corporation is legally considered the “person”, individual shareholders are not legally responsible for the corporation’s debts and damages beyond their investment in the corporation. Similarly, individual employees, managers, and directors are liable for their own malfeasance or lawbreaking while acting on behalf of the corporation but are not generally liable for the corporation’s actions.
The corporate personhood aspect of the campaign finance debate turns on Buckley v. Valeo (1976) and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010): Buckley ruled that political spending is protected by the First Amendment right to free speech, while Citizens United ruled that corporate political spending is protected, holding that corporations have a First Amendment right to free speech because they are “associations of citizens” and hold the collected rights of the individual citizens who constitute them. While this deals with essentially voicing your opinion or voting with your pocketbook, the fact that your free speech rights are protected while doing so is the point I’m trying to illustrate here. A corporation therefore should also have protections when its representatives voice their opinions orally as well.
The above means that when the CEO of Disney was making his statements through the Disney Co. on behalf of Disney employees, it should be considered the equivalent of any individual voicing their views on this political matter and not just a company’s views. Thus, the company as a “person” affords it 1st Amendment rights for free speech and, therefore, protection against retaliation through legislation.
Balihai
How much is the rat paying you for this tripe, dude?
Carol
Disney brings lots of revenue to Florida..backoff DeSantis
Sherry
What is wrong with this man, Disney a Mistake, is his marriage a mistake,he got married there. He’s got to just go away & shut up
Janet
Absolutely!
George
Glad vindictive destantis dropped out of the race for president! He is a loser ! Don’t need another president like vindictive sleepy Joe???
Peggy
I Agree
Linda Wright
Concentrate on the real Florida issues and stop picking on the largest employer of Floridians in Florida. Housing costs, insurance, traffic, etc.
Paula
Um. Largest employer in Florida is Publix. And they stick to what they know —selling groceries. Disney should take a lesson from them.
Janet
Amazing how Disney World managed for 50 years without you, Governor. Leave them alone and work on I-4 traffic, taxes and other important things. You’ve lost my vote for anything.
Kathy
It is about time that someone stood up to Disney.. why should they get a free ride?
jo028229
Explain how they were getting a free ride? Make sure to research your information to 1st verify your lead off statement was valid and 2nd to ensure your response is equally valid. I believe that you will have real trouble validating your initial comment which will nullify your need of a response.
Cheryl
DeSantis needs to leave Disney alone! He should worry about the state! He’s not going to be on peoples good side when it comes to reelection. Thank goodness he dropped out of the presidential race. My own opinion.
Jak
DeSantis needs to Concentrate on the real Florida issues and stop picking on the largest employer of Floridians in Florida. Ultimately this fight will came back to haunt him. It’s a shame he doesn’t see it…
Paula
Publix—not Disney, is the largest employer in Florida. Our university system also employs more people. Advent health systems has more employees just in Central Florida than Disney does. I’d suggest that all three of these industries are more important to the state’s wellbeing than Disney. They’ve had a great run and I’d venture to say that Disney owes Florida a lot more than Florida owes it. Times are changing and Disney needs to keep up. Or they can just go ruin some other part of rural
America. We’ll survive.
Jeph
Paula – although Publix is a big player in FL…here’s an actual breakdown of employees per company.
Disney 62K
Publix 54K
Advent Health 32K
FL Health 30K
Lockheed 13k
jo028229
When it comes to claims of biggest company in FL it is dependent on many variables which change the rankings on the list. Publix is not the biggest company headquartered in FL, this belongs to DPWN Holdings (USA), Inc., a Deutsche Post AG subsidiary, with 546,924 employees and an annual revenue of $61.0B. Publix has an annual revenue of $36.1 billion and a workforce of 225,000 associates. Because Disney is headquartered in Burbank, CA it doesn’t even post. But according to the same website it has an annual revenue of $82.7 billion and employs 223,000 individuals.
When one looks at a company’s annual revenue it doesn’t tell the actual money the company made for that year. Disney in 2022 made $82,722M in annual revenue, but netted a big whopping $3,505M. Of this profit, some was returned to the company to begin next year, while the rest was spread as dividends to the 1822 shareholders which amounted to $1.73.
Darlene Loughborough
Desantos should appreciate what Disney does for Florida. He should be ashamed of the trouble he is creating and a people he is hurting
Paula
As a Native Floridian who visited Disney world when it first opened, Disney has done wonderful and not so wonderful things for our great state throughout the years, but corporate greed has made it lose most of its magic. I’d predict Walt is turning in his grave. Today, it should not enjoy any more benefits than any other corporation in the state—irregardless of its politics.
Donald T.
Disney should pack up and move to Colorado or Maine.
Pete
Disney needs to stay out of politics and run its improvement district. Disney should stay out of its employees personal business & lives.
DeSantis needs to move on and stop being a prick. Leave the state’s largest employer alone.
sandra stamey
Definately agree with governor DeSantis. Disney should not have a free ride!
Barbara Bauer
you need to use Spellcheck!
Comments are closed.