Disney Loses Control of District Operations to Conservative Committee

Visitors walk along Main Street at The Magic Kingdom of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., on Sept. 30, 2022. Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images

In a recent turn of events, Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis has appointed five members to a new board that will administer the district housing Walt Disney World, with a “Moms for Liberty” co-founder securing a spot on the board.

On Monday, DeSantis signed legislation that renames Reedy Creek Improvement District, where Walt Disney World is located, to Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. The legislation also established a board of five members to oversee operations of the district, with appointees subject to term limits. Reedy Creek Improvement District was a special-purpose district created in 1967 according to state laws which gave Walt Disney control over the land in and around its theme parks. The new legislation strips away the company’s special powers.

The situation has turned into a major embarrassment for the multinational corporation after catering to activists and coming out against parents. Disney has lost governmental control of the region, will no longer have the right to tax, and will now be under the regulation of a conservative committee.

Bridget Ziegler, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, a conservative activist group that holds schools accountable to parents, is one of the members of the board. Christian Ziegler, her husband, is the chairman of the Florida Republican Party.

Bridget Ziegler is a board member of the Sarasota County School. She has openly defended the Parental Rights in Education Act, also called by mainstream media as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which bans schools in the state from discussing gender identity and sexual orientations up to third grade.

Board Members

Attorney and business owner Martin Garcia was appointed as chairman of the board of the newly named Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. Last year, his law firm, Pinehill Capital Partners, had donated $50,000 to “Friends of Ron DeSantis,” a political committee.

The other three members of the board include Republican attorney Brian Aungst Jr., attorney Michael Sasso, and former pastor Ron Peri ,who is also the founder of the Christian organization The Gathering.

In a statement on Feb. 27, Democratic state representative Anna Eskamani criticized the five appointments, calling them “hostile conservative cronies.”

“It’s absolutely wild to see a self-proclaimed capitalist like DeSantis celebrate the government takeover of a private board, which is exactly what the governor just did today,” she said.

The Florida governor has characterized the new policy of eliminating Disney’s special status as crucial to maintain equality of law.

“I signed legislation to end Disney’s self-governing status, placed the area in state receivership, and appointed five members to a state control board. Disney no longer has its own government, will live under the same laws as everyone else, and pay its debts and fair share of taxes,” DeSantis stated in a tweet on Feb. 27.

“Today is the day the corporate kingdom finally comes to an end,” DeSantis said as he signed the bill setting up a new board to govern the property.

Disney Opposing Parental Rights Bill

The Parental Rights in Education Act was signed by DeSantis in March 2022. Activists insisted that the law harms LGBT children. Initially, Disney had taken a center course on the debate.

But following pressure from LGBT activists, Disney CEO Bob Chapek apologized for not coming out against the bill earlier and committed to ceasing all political donations in Florida.

Disney called for repealing the law, with Peter Rice, chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content, insisting that the bill was a violation of human rights.

DeSantis eventually announced that he will seek to end Disney’s special privileges. “You’re a corporation based in Burbank, California, and you’re going to marshal your economic might to attack the parents of my state?” DeSantis said during an event in April 2022. “We view that as a provocation, and we’re going to fight back against that.”

In April 2022, Florida lawmakers signed a bill that sought to strip Reedy Creek of its unique status effective June 2023.

In an interview with The Epoch Times last year, Tiffany Justice, a co-founder of Moms for Liberty, criticized Disney’s position on the matter, saying that parents will not “put up with this nonsense.”

“We are watching woke corporations chip away at our parental rights. So we’re not just going to stand out on the street with our ‘Boycott Disney’ signs,” Justice said.

“We’re going to do what we need to do as parents across the country and make sure we spend our money with companies that align with our values, and sexualizing children is not a value we hold.”