The move was initially announced because at the time TWDC was mad that California shutdown DLR for so long due to COVID and at that time TWDC and Florida were still friends.
If I were Disney, I'm not sure I would be talking to them at all.
Someone may be talking to someone to say they’re talking but there is no reason to believe it is in anyway serious or meaningful. Negotiation requires specific goals and desires on which compromise can be made, and those with the authority to act on them. The State has no policy objectives that can be discussed and negotiated. The only objective is to try to harm Disney.
Walt Disney Imagineering does a lot of project hiring. Delaying an attraction or hotel means they’re not hiring, and thus not paying, those employees and contractors. They can also give a whack at other strategies like more outsourcing.
Guys, it’s not secret negotiations like something out of a spy novel. Disney uses lobbyists just like any other corporation. These lobbyists meet with politicians for a living, literally every day, in the open with no attempt to hide it. There’s absolutely no need to keep it secret. Nobody cares. I can almost guarantee you that there are people on the ground in FL meeting with politicians and talking about what Disney wants.
Meeting who? Where? The Florida legislature is not in session. The politicians have other jobs and they’re not in Tallahassee. So that only leaves the governor.
We can just agree to disagree on that point. The delay in moving those jobs almost certainly is related to the current political conflict. In my opinion it’s very unlikely that it’s purely based on a pending recession and cutbacks as was implied in the post I was quoting.
? Every state representative has one or multiple offices and staff in their district. This isn't 1790 anymore... state reps are full time jobs, even when not in session.
Seriously, it’s not this difficult. A lobbyist can drive or fly to meet with someone in person wherever they are. Go out to dinner, meet them at their office. They can also make phone calls, or use Zoom or Teams or FaceTime.
People who are still saying that Disney is pushing a dangerous ideology meeting with Disney is noteworthy, so no hints of that means secret. And again, what is their motivation? They’re getting what they want right now.
They could, and someone would report about it. Nobody has reported that, and as you said, they don’t need to keep it secret about meeting. Ergo, they’re not meeting. Although, I would think they would want to keep the contents of meetings secret, which would also be hard.
That may actually be the first public comment about the events, even if most of the details are just implied.
Beyond unclear end goals for the governor, Disney is also working on a different time horizon. While the governor cares about November and 2024, Disney cares about the next 25+ years. We know Disney cannot leave FL. They don’t want just the best outcome from this event, they want the best outcome that’s for the long term and durable. If the give in on a bunch of stuff, they may become a punching bag again and again and again. That’s bad business.
I’m not trying to belabor this point, but lobbyists are consultants who work for multiple clients. It’s a guy in a suit meeting a politician for breakfast or drinks or on a phone call. They aren’t wearing mouse ears or a name tag that says I lobby for Disney. There’s nothing to report. I am not sure I follow the logic that if nobody is reporting about it they are not meeting.
Lobbyist register who they represent. People know who they represent. Staff who set up meetings know the attendees. It’s not just the two people who know about the meeting. Such meetings happening in the context of one publicly demonizing and disavowing the other makes it noteworthy.
So you are saying you don’t think any Disney lobbyist could have called or reached out to any FL politician without it becoming a news story? Are their phones tapped? Seems unlikely.
You are not supposing a single conversation. You repeatedly suggest there are ongoing negotiations. That means multiple conversations, multiple meetings over some amount of time.
I'm suggesting that nobody with any Disney connection is offering any suggestions on a way to resolve the current situation in any discussions with anyone outside the company.
There are multiple people in the legislature. It would make sense they would reach out to more than one. I never suggested there were any sort of formal negotiations occurring. Simply people representing Disney reaching out to see what their options are.
Who suggested they were talking to anyone about solutions or offering anything? All I said is there were likely people representing Disney who have had discussions with FL politicians about the situation. These guys are very likely meeting with the same politicians on any number of other issues and possibly about multiple clients too. They aren’t necessarily exclusively discussing RCID.
Isn't that what negotiating means?
I'm sure they're talking about all kinds of other things. As I said, business and governments are very good at compartmentalization. But, if they're not hitting on RCID topics, they're not talking about a solution to RCID. That's kind of the point.
So, yes, I'm saying if Disney was to suggest anything at all to those same politicians as a way to resolve the current problem, those politicians would announce it publicly and get it reported on as a way to show their victory over Disney. It would certainly be better PR for them than the nonsense word salad magic resolution that the problems will just go away they're saying now. At the very least they would announce something like "Disney has agreed to X as part of resolving the impacts to local communities as a result of RCID changes".
That’s still multiple meeting with multiple people all happening in complete secrecy.
You have repeatedly hypothesized about negotiations happening. What you are now trying to describe are nothing close to negotiations.
