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Image Credit: Inside The MagicDisney is calling out Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, claiming he has caused nothing but “chaos” after taking over.
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In a newly filed document in the ongoing battle between The Walt Disney Company and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD), Disney says that the new District has faced a lot of trouble in its first year of operation.
This Motion for Injunctive Relief was filed late last week after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held a press conference at the CFTOD headquarters, boasting about the first year of being able to control Disney.
The new document sees Disney claiming that “it is no secret that CFTOD’s first year has been plagued by chaos and upheaval.” Within the first year of the new District’s running, nearly 50 employees and leaders left the CFTOD. Disney is now pointing toward this mass exit, saying that “rapid turnover shows no signs of slowing down” and that the new District is controlled by “a very, very, very politically motivated Board.”
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Disney says its main worry is that when employees quit, they are taking private and important documents with them due to a lack of policy within the District. Disney says that if the court does not act quickly, “even more public records may be irretrievably lost with each passing day.”
Disney claims that when a public records request is actually filed, “it relies exclusively on its employees and Board members to search their own accounts and devices to identify responsive records. The pitfalls of relying on untrained and self-interested custodians to select their own responsive records are obvious”.
After Disney took a firm stance against Florida’s controversial Parental Rights in Education Act in 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis began threatening the company with a variety of actions and punishments, ranging from legal litigation to political warfare. DeSantis even threatened to make signiifcant changes to how the Walt Disney World Resort operated in Orlando.
Eventually, DeSantis was successful in stripping away power from The Walt Dismey Company, with the State of Florida now in control. The CFTOD began in 2023 after the State of Florida took control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District. The RCID was renamed to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, with DeSantis hand-picking new members of the board.
This new Motion for Injunctive Relief was filed late last week, with both The Walt Disney Company and Ron DeSantis entangled in lawsuits and court hearings that will stretch out for the foreseeable future.
Stay tuned here for all future updates on this story.