Fogbow

DeSantis: I’ll kill Reedy Creek deal, consider hotel tax, tolls for Disney World

Steven Lemongello, Skyler Swisher, Orlando Sentinel
Fri, April 7, 2023 at 4:56 PM GMT+2

Escalating an already hot feud, Gov. Ron DeSantis says he plans to work with the Legislature to void the Reedy Creek deal with Disney that stripped the new board of its power and consider hotel taxes and tolls at Disney World.

“Come hell or high water, we’re going to make sure that the policy of Florida carries the day,” DeSantis said in a speech at Hillsdale College in Michigan on Thursday night, first reported by Politico. “And so they can keep trying to do things. But ultimately we’re going to win on every single issue involving Disney, I can tell you that.”

In a question-and-answer session at the conservative Michigan college, DeSantis called the entertainment giant and largest single-site employer in the state a “joke.”

Disney is “acting like somehow that they pulled one over on the state,” DeSantis said.

“But now that Disney has reopened this issue, we’re not just going to void the development agreement they tried to do, we’re going to look at things like taxes on the hotels, we’re going to look at things like tolls on the roads,” he said. “We’re going to look at things like developing some of the property that the district owns.”

He reiterated his intention to undo Disney’s deal during a news conference in Ocala on Friday, saying additional legislative action will be taken to nullify the deal and “potentially arm the board with the ability to make sure that this is run appropriately.”

Democrats accused DeSantis of wanting to increase costs for working-class Floridians.

Raising hotel taxes or putting tolls on roads will hurt consumers, not Disney, said state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando.

“It’s hitting a point of absurdity,” she said. “It is not creating an even playing field. It’s about DeSantis looking big and bad next to Disney.”

If DeSantis wants accountability, he should urge the Legislature to pass combined reporting for corporate income taxes that would prevent corporations from using tax-avoiding accounting tricks, Eskamani said.




https://www.yahoo.com/news/desantis-ll- ... 00544.html

Ron Filipkowski
@RonFilipkowski
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11h
Should’ve invited Kevin Sorbo or Kid Rock as keynote instead. You know, people with real talent.
Quote Tweet

Tara Palmeri
@tarapalmeri
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Apr 7
multiple sources noted to me that the New Hampshire G.O.P. is still struggling to sell tickets, at every level up from entry-level tickets to $5,000 dinner sponsorships, for the annual Amos Tuck Dinner on April 14, featuring DeSantis as the special guest. https://puck.news/desantis-donor-quakes ... ce=twitter

Aside from the fact that this is false, why on earth would Florida’s Governor, regardless of who it is, want to be the “worst nightmare” of a company that put the state on the map to people from all over the world? Is his personal ambition more important than the iconic employer?

Under normal circumstances, this would be a time when state party leaders and legislators would push back on a Governor run amok against a crucial employer. But we have no functioning legislature, and state GOP party leaders are sycophantic, grifting, intimidated hacks.

Desantis recently denied to Piers Morgan that he had anything to do with force feeding detainees at Guantanamo. Democracy Now found an old interview of him where he admitted recommending it for hunger strikers, then interviewed detainee who said Desantis was watching & laughing.

Fewer pronouns, more guns: Ron DeSantis’s plan to turn the US into Florida
Florida governor sees state as ‘blueprint’ for America, but his policies may not be as popular – or successful – as they seem

by David Smith in Washington
Mon 10 Apr 2023 11.00 BST

The title of Governor Ron DeSantis’s book, which he is zealously promoting across the nation, is less important than the subtitle. The Courage to Be Free is a forgettable title shared by a volume by actor and gun rights activist Charlton Heston. But the subtitle, Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival, unlocks DeSantis’s national ambitions.

While former US president Donald Trump labours under the frayed slogan of “Make America great again”, DeSantis is building a case to “Make America Florida” – a phrase that appears on caps, flags and other merchandise.

The governor argues that he has made glorious summer in the Sunshine state. If and when he announces a run for US president in 2024, he will claim that he can repeat the formula in state after state across the US. Florida, his theory goes, is an incubator of conservative ideas that work.

He dangles a carrot to Republicans who, weary of Trump’s losing streak, are seeking a saviour. DeSantis writes that when he was elected in 2018, there were nearly 300,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans in Florida; by October 2022, there were more than 300,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats.

“What Florida has done is establish a blueprint for governance that has produced tangible results while serving as a rebuke to the entrenched elites who have driven our nation into the ground,” DeSantis writes in The Courage to Be Free.



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... eprint-usa

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 10, 2023 12:21 pm

He dangles a carrot to Republicans who, weary of Trump’s losing streak, are seeking a saviour. DeSantis writes that when he was elected in 2018, there were nearly 300,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans in Florida; by October 2022, there were more than 300,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats.

Gregg wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 2:28 pm I would also posit that most of what DeSantis has done is either useless headline grabbing nonsense which usually has no effect and as often as not gets tossed by a court as unlawful in one way or another. What is left are policies that are like sugar highs for Conservatives that are not going to work long term but won't crash and burn for a few years. That's why Meatball can't wait until 2028 which is the smart move, because by then the total clusterphuck he has built in Florida will come crashing down and he'll be left looking like the idiot he is.

Desantis is on his “book tour” in Ohio while Ft. Lauderdale is under water.

Ron DeSantis' team tries to stop Florida Republicans from endorsing Trump

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ political operation has started calling Republican members of the Florida congressional delegation to consolidate support after four members publicly backed Donald Trump in his 2024 presidential bid.

Sources with four of the six members contacted by DeSantis' team shared the outreach with NBC News; each requested anonymity to confirm the calls.

As Trump continues to lead in the polls for the GOP presidential nomination, DeSantis is trying to stop defections in his own backyard ahead of his expected run. DeSantis has no endorsements from the 20 Republicans in the state congressional delegation.

The efforts started after Trump picked up the backing of Rep. Byron Donalds, who has been a DeSantis ally. The three earlier endorsements were from Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, Matt Gaetz and Cory Mills, who are vocal Trump boosters and whose support wasn't surprising.

Since Donalds came out for Trump, DeSantis' team has called at least six members of Florida’s congressional delegation, asking that they hold off on making any endorsements in the near future. They are: Reps. Aaron Bean, Vern Buchanan, Kat Cammack, Mario Diaz-Balart, Laurel Lee and Greg Steube.

Meanwhile, in flooded Ft. Lauderdale…

Q - Have you spoken to Governor Desantis?

A - Governor Desantis has not yet called.

Dude, while you are hanging out with the fruitcakes at Hillsdale, one of our largest cities is underwater. Now go tell the people in Ohio how you owned Disney and put 50 migrants on a faster path to citizenship with FL tax dollars.

Kendra wrote: ↑Thu Apr 13, 2023 10:52 am

Desantis is on his “book tour” in Ohio while Ft. Lauderdale is under water.

Holy shit. Ron DeSantis just gave a low-energy speech in Akron, Ohio where he ranted against Republicans who are "like potted plants" who "hope to not have to make decisions" until they're forced to.

He said this as Fort Lauderdale, FL is underwater from historic flooding.

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 14, 2023 4:02 pm Traveling book salesmen? That's a refreshing change after all the travelling meat salesmen of past birther history