Yesterday the back and forth between Disney and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hit another extreme. After the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board voted to nullify Reedy Creek’s Restrictive Covenants that gave all the power in the District to Disney, the Walt Disney Company filed a lawsuit against the Governor, members of the Board, and other lawmakers claiming they were hurting their business.

Instead of Bob Iger talking with DeSantis like he publically said he would. He spent his time getting a Los Angeles attorney to draw up a lawsuit, fly down to Tallahassee, and file it minutes after Disney didn’t get to keep the contract that they allegedly had their own Walt Disney World Chief Counsel draw up himself and then change the name to the Reedy Creek Improvement District’s attorney.

The Governor’s office’s spokesperson Taryn Fenske put out this statement following the lawsuit filing:

“We are unaware of any legal right that a company has to operate its own government or maintain special privileges not held by other businesses in the state. This lawsuit is yet another unfortunate example of their hope to undermine the will of the Florida voters and operate outside the bounds of the law.”

Governor DeSantis, who is currently in Jerusalem, made this statement:

“They’re upset because they’re actually having to live by the same rules as everybody else. They don’t want to have to pay the same taxes as everybody else, and they want to be able to control things without proper oversight, whereas every other Floridian has to have the is type of oversight. All Florida businesses. So it’s a little bit much to be complaining about that. I don’t think the suit has merit. I think it’s political. I think they filed in Tallahassee for a reason because they’re trying to generate some district court decision but we’re very confident on the law.

Disney argues that DeSantis used “the machinery of the State in a coordinated campaign to damage Disney’s ability to do business in Florida.” Arguing that DeSantis is doing this in retaliation for their “freedom of speech” regarding the Parental Rights in Education bill, aka “Don’t Say Gay Bill.”

Disney’s then-CEO Bob Chapek spoke out against the bill due to alleged pressure from the company. The issues peaked when he also announced the company would increase spending on advocacy groups to fight similar laws in other states.

When Disney lost their special district, which should have been removed years ago, they first tried giving power to themselves through the aforementioned covenants seemingly drafted by a Disney attorney. Then they allegedly began pushing for “lobbyists to step up their efforts to influence the Republican-controlled state Legislature and to target land use-related bills that could hurt the company, among other measures.”

It sounds like the political issues are with both parties to me. All of which could have been avoided if Disney, a private company, hadn’t tried to maneuver politically. It’s not helping their case to imply that their higher tax payments and contributions to Florida should in some way allow them special treatment. Iger even said disagreeing with this would be “anti-business” and “anti-Florida.”

Did DeSantis do this in retaliation for Disney’s threats to overstep politically? It seems so.

Did Disney allegedly do some questionable things to keep special privileges that should have been removed years ago? It seems so.

It comes across as hubris the whole way around.