All major corporations are involved in politics. That’s the whole reason the lobbying industry exists. It’s naive to pretend otherwise. And corporations are entitled to political speech under the 1st amendment the same way you are.
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News Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District
- Thread starter castlecake2.0
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lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Depends if they decide to make a First Amendment play.
Supporting groups is not beyond free speech.
The big issue with RCID going away and the services it provided being turned over to the county is the financial impact to Disney. Their control over RCID probably allowed them to control a lot of cost. Govt rarely provide services at the best cost, this will likely raise Disney's cost.
Disney will have to make changes to cover potential cost increases; raise prices, cut cast benefits, or cut into profits that will further devalue their stock. Stockholders are not going to stand for much more loss before they come out with torches and pitchforks.
Disney will have to make changes to cover potential cost increases; raise prices, cut cast benefits, or cut into profits that will further devalue their stock. Stockholders are not going to stand for much more loss before they come out with torches and pitchforks.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
I do agree with the first part of your last statement. Legally the FL government can dissolve the special district and Disney can absolutely have an opinion on a political issue.
On the question of whether they should do it that’s a little more muddy. I will table our disagreement on whether a government entity should go after someone who opposes their point of view.
In a practical sense how does this impact Disney, their workers and the state of FL in general? Special tax incentives from the state or local government is a way of doing business. It’s a way to attract new business to an area and also a way to secure jobs for citizens. WDW isn’t going to shut down over this and this will be a minor pin prick to Disney’s bottom line. I don’t think this has a major impact on current Disney employees in the present day either. Maybe a few extreme knuckleheads who will take this to an extreme and harass workers but not a major impact.
This could impact Disney‘s decisions to invest in FL in the future though. They may not shut down existing operations but they could think twice about expanding cruise ship ports or building a 5th gate or whatever other activities Disney considers for the future. Just recently Disney announced they were moving 2,000 well paying jobs from CA to FL and they got very nice tax breaks to do it. Will those tax breaks be revoked now too? How will other corporations react? If considering a growth project in FL there has to be a fear from companies now that whatever incentives they get to move to FL could be revoked on a whim if you oppose a politician there. People are swept up in political drama but at the end of the day what’s best for the citizens of FL is long term economic growth. Teaching “woke Disney” a lesson won’t pay the bills a decade from now when the current batch of politicians pushing this are long gone.
peter11435
Well-Known Member
How? That vow is itself speech. And regardless individuals and corporations have a right to disagree with the government and to fight to change laws. That’s how government works. Or at least how it’s supposed to.
hsisthebest
Well-Known Member
The only way I would see this in front of the Federal Supreme Court is if Disney did sue over violation of the 1st Amendment. Otherwise this is a State issue that would be argued up through state courts. As a side note, I do not think Disney would win a 1st Amendment infringement argument- they have not been censored by the State of Florida- the state is just changing a local government agency.
Many on this forum keep arguing that what Florida is doing is illegal. I don't think what they're doing is illegal at all. Florida had granted Disney special privileges and is now revoking those privileges. That's not retaliation in the traditional sense. Retaliation would be something more along the lines of creating a special tax that only affects Disney.
Whether Florida's actions are right or wrong is certainly up for debate—and that's not what I am commenting on here. I just don't think this action is illegal as others keep commenting.
Whether Florida's actions are right or wrong is certainly up for debate—and that's not what I am commenting on here. I just don't think this action is illegal as others keep commenting.
peter11435
Well-Known Member
You’re allowed to challenge the government.
Brian
Well-Known Member
Press release from Gov. DeSantis' office regarding potential tax increases (bolding is mine):
Full statement: https://www.flgov.com/2022/04/22/go...tricts-and-remove-special-interest-carveouts/
Edited to clarify this is a statement from the Governor's office.
Full statement: https://www.flgov.com/2022/04/22/go...tricts-and-remove-special-interest-carveouts/
Edited to clarify this is a statement from the Governor's office.
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lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Companies are allowed to challenge the government. Have you never heard of a company suing the government?
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
Chapek has supporters?!? Name one
AEfx
Well-Known Member
That is what will be interesting, once we get some facts and actual experts to weigh in on the matter (not fourm hounds).
For example, there is a member of the governors office on record this morning (or last night? I can't find the link right now, it was a cable news interview) saying that they has been looking into this since 2019 when he was elected to office. That should be pretty easy to prove in a court of law, should it be true, as there would be some paper trail regarding his staff working on researching the topic.
Desantis is a lot of things - just not an idiot. I'm rather certain he didn't just invent this last week, as scores and scores of people are assuming to be gospel truth. What he did is find a time to whip it out, when he knew he had political support to do so, and Disney gave him the perfect opportunity to bring it up.
He still has a job , so wild guess , the Disney Board who fully supported him to get the top job?
Yes, the state has a right to revoke special privileges, but they don’t have the right to do it in retaliation for protected political speech. And Disney’s political speech is protected under the 1st Amendment. We know it’s retaliatory because the politicians have outright said so.
Goofy!!!!
Andrew C
You know what's funny?
Ultimately the courts will/may decide on the constitutionality if Disney decides to take it there and if it even gets to that point. Everything here is just speculation (no one really knows for certain), which of course is typically the point of a forum and debate.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Disney was not granted any special privileges. If Disney built a park in Daytona Beach there are no special privileges they could exercise. Disney can’t even exercise any special privileges if it wanted to build a new office building in Celebration. The powers of the District are not explicitly tied to Disney.
The authors and supports of this bill have outright said it is retaliation. To try to claim otherwise at this point is just lying.
flynnibus
Premium Member
It's not a Fed issue initially - but the 1A angle could end up in Federal Court eventually. But that's likely a long ways off.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
The author of the bill lied in session. He ended up admitting that this is just about Disney. He claimed local residents and jurisdictions would get a say in the process (they did not). These issues of motivation aren’t guesses, they’re public statements. The lieutenant governor said they’d reconsider if Disney apologizes and pledges to change the content they produce. If the governor’s stated rationale was actually believed there was no need for legislative action.