Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has penned a report that furthers his bitter feud with Disney’s former self-governing AHJ known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Now, the Presidential hopeful is alleging that the Disney-run body was rife with cronyism and bribery.
The 80-page report, as the Orlando Sentinel describes, outlines accusations that the Disney-run Reedy Creek was the “most egregious exhibition of corporate cronyism in modern American history.”
DeSantis claims that the pro-Disney board used perks and other bonuses of working for Reedy Creek as something “akin to bribes.” This isn’t an altogether unbelievable claim since The Mouse had little to no oversight regarding the district.
Another issue the Governor brings up is the lack of transportation improvements, roadway upgrades, and affordable housing in the area. Wouldn’t want the poors too close to the Kingdom, I guess.
Disney did issue an official response, which we were able to find in full thanks to Yahoo Finance:
“This report is neither objective nor credible, and only seeks to advance (the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District’s) interests in its wasteful litigation that could derail investment within the district. Further, it does not change the fact that the CFTOD board was appointed by the governor to punish Disney for exercising its Constitutional right to free speech.“
This isn’t the first time Reedy Creek’s previous board’s actions have been called into question. The new, DeSantis-appointed, board called the last one “naughty” back in July.
In turn, Bob Iger took a shot at Ron DeSantis. The embattled CEO of the Walt Disney Company labeled DeStantis’ legal actions as “constitutional mutiny” just two months ago.
The cries of cronyism are somewhat amusing, considering Ron DeSantis filled the replacement board with several allies, aka the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. While we don’t play favorites here regarding politicians, we do like to point out hypocrisy.
What do you think of DeSantis’ claims? Let us know in the comments section below.
[Source: Orlando Sentinel]
[Source: Yahoo Finance]
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