Well, Governor DeSantis signed the bill this Friday ending Disney's special tax district, basically giving every resident of Osceola and Orange Counties the middle finger regarding their property taxes going up 20 percent. He's also violated Disney's Constitutional rights (thank you Mitt Romney - oh GOD did I just say that - for reminding us "Corporations are people, my friends."), if Ian Millhiser has the right info on this (via Vox.com):
Florida’s decision to strip a government benefit from Disney because, in DeSantis’s words, Disney expressed “woke” opinions and “tried to attack me to advance their woke agenda,” is unconstitutional. And it’s not a close case.
As the Supreme Court said in Hartman v. Moore (2006), “official reprisal for protected speech ‘offends the Constitution [because] it threatens to inhibit exercise of the protected right.’” Nor does it matter how the government retaliates against a person or business who expresses an opinion that the government does not like — any official retaliation against someone because they engaged in First Amendment-protected speech is unconstitutional...
The "Don't Say Gay" law that's at the crux of this fight, according to Millhiser, is unconstitutional itself:
The law is unconstitutional because it is so vaguely drafted that teachers cannot determine what kinds of instruction are permitted and what kinds are forbidden — although it remains to be seen whether a federal judiciary dominated by Republican appointees will strike the law down...
So there is a big "If" attached to that possibility, although we've seen Roberts' Court reject some of the more extreme Far Right attempts at legislation due to such vagueness. Back to the fight:
Think of it this way: Imagine that José owns a bar in Orlando. One day, José tells the local paper that he dislikes Ron DeSantis and plans to vote for DeSantis’s opponent in the upcoming election. The next day, the state sends him a letter informing him that “because you disparaged our great governor, we are stripping your business of its liquor license.”
José does not have a constitutional right to sell liquor for profit. And the overwhelming majority of Florida businesses do not have a license permitting them to do so. But if Florida strips José of his liquor license because the government disapproves of José’s First Amendment-protected speech, it violates the Constitution.
Disney’s ability to govern the Reedy Creek Improvement District is no different from Florida’s hypothetical decision to take away José’s liquor license. If Florida has a legitimate reason to strip away this benefit from Disney, the Constitution most likely would permit it to do so.
But no one can be punished because they express a political opinion...
If DeSantis and his fellow Republicans had come up with some valid excuse - some evidence of criminal misdeeds involving those special tax districts, financial evidence that removing those districts is a benefit to the state and its residents in some way - then they ought to be able to pass that bill and get it through judicial review.
Problem is, DeSantis and his fellow Republicans have made it clear in public that this law is meant to punish Disney for their public opposition to DeSantis' anti-gay agenda. DeSantis openly accused Disney of attacking him promoting their "woke agenda," and his Lt. Gov. Jennette Nunez admitted on Eric Bolling's Newsmax show that all Disney has to do is change their position on gay rights and they can have their tax district back (it won't expire until 2023). There's no true reform element to what DeSantis is doing: He is straight-up kneecapping Disney as a warning to everybody else to stay out of his way.
DeSantis thinks he's in full control of the situation, and he thinks he's untouchable.
But he's not untouchable. He can lose, not only in the courtrooms where his actions can turn on him. He can lose at the ballot box, especially because he's more vulnerable than he wants to admit.
In 2018, he only barely won election as Governor by barely 35,000 votes, in an election with 8.2 million voters out of 11.5 million or so registered voters.
Orange County has roughly 854,000 or more total voters, Osceola has 245,000 or so voters. Granted, a sizable majority in both are registered Dems (361,000 / 98,000), but how many of them are going to show up to vote now to express their displeasure? How many No-Party Affiliated (NPA) voters (264,000 / 86,000) are now willing to show up and vote their displeasure? How many of them are now willing to join the Democratic Party?
Because what DeSantis and the state GOP did legitimately hurts them, strikes at their incomes and their businesses: They are now looking at the possibility their tourism industry will take a huge hit.
All those county residents gotta do is, they gotta go get their Voter Registration forms - county elections offices have them, your DMV offices have them, your public libraries have them - and get them filed this Monday. Register for the first time, or otherwise re-register and change their affiliation to Democratic. Hell, let's see how many registered Republicans in those counties (214,000 / 56,000) decide to re-register to NPA just to send DeSantis a message?
Because they STILL have a First Amendment right to send DeSantis a message saying "You Suck." He can try to retaliate all he wants, but he deserves to lose that fight if he keeps pushing it.
Punch back, Florida voters. Your votes matter, your voices matter, and DeSantis deserves to lose for what he's doing to our families and to our businesses.
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