The Oversight Board Sues Disney
The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (formerly Reedy Creek) has filed its own suit against the Walt Disney Company and it has done so in a Florida district court.
Disney’s lawsuit “against Ron DeSantis” is a clown show for media retards. There is a very real chance it will get thrown out, the judge will have to be batting heavily for Disney in order for it to get off the ground. Keep in mind, I’m not dismissing this possibility, you only have to look at General Flynn’s trial to know that it’s always a possibility with the modern judiciary.
Regardless, the genuinely important lawsuit is the one that has now been filed in Florida. Given Bob Iger’s statement at the Annual Stockholder’s Meeting, when he was officially speaking as a corporate officer of the Walt Disney Company, there is an excellent chance this the Oversight Board’s new lawsuit will succeed.
I’ve gone into the relationship between Disney and the Reedy Creek Improvement District before:
“In 1967, the Florida legislature created the special taxing district called the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Roy Disney was now the CEO of the Walt Disney Company, and when asked about Epcot, he replied, “Walt is gone now.” There was no attempt to build it. Consequently, he was happy to smooth over the legal problems that would be created by his late brother’s “no voting thing,” by agreeing to let the residents of the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista be in democratic control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District.
The world’s cheapest gated communities were promptly established. These two cul-de-sacs with doublewides on them became the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista. These cities have powers of a genuine a municipality like Chicago to include the ability to issue billions in tax-free municipal bonds for construction projects which was what made Reedy Creek such a goldmine for the Walt Disney Company. Then there were all the other things Disney could do without having to jump through any governmental hoops. Building permits were a barely observed formality, experimental construction materials that hadn’t been approved for use anywhere else could be used to build things in Disney World and then they could declare them as proven. Although that occasionally bit them in the ass when rides disintegrated ahead of schedule. They didn’t have to obey things like housing density laws, which meant that Disney World Cast Members living in on-property housing were stacked up eight to a room in conditions that are worse than fucking Hong Kong.
Employees, (selected for their loyalty and obedience to Mickey the Great Terrible), are installed in these “cities.” And they are the ones who in theory control the Reedy Creek Improvement District.
This was clearly and obviously a legal fiction.
HOWEVER, it was a legal fiction that Disney absolutely and under all circumstances had to observe. The Chinese wall separating the Walt Disney Company from the Reedy Creek Improvement District had to be as big as the Great Wall of China.”
This was what Bob Iger shattered with this statement: ‘The governor of Florida got angry and decided to retaliate’, (here is the kill quote) “including the naming of a new board to oversee the property and the business.”
Bob Iger speaking in his capacity as the chief corporate officer of the Walt Disney Company has basically admitted that Disney and Reedy Creek were the same entity.
The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District’s suit seeks to formally dissolve the last agreements made by the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista… You know, these cities… And Disney World.
Disney’s suit was a ludicrous stunt to pull. It poured gasoline on a fire that looked like it had been burnt down to a few smoking embers. When Florida voted to dissolve Reedy Creek, then CEO Chapek set about trying to negotiate the best deal he could for Disney. RCID had a good run but it couldn’t last forever, so let’s get the best deal we can for the new special taxing district.
Then Chapek got fired and Disney was suddenly taking a straight-up ‘fuck you’ attitude to Florida. Businesses don’t make decisions this way. Cults do. More and more that is what the decision-making is starting to feel like, a cult. Let’s take a look at the risk/reward for Disney for its current legal action against Florida and Ron DeSantis. The reward is Disney can get some money and a lot of anti-rightwing cheering from the press. The risk is that Reedy Creek and the Walt Disney Company could be found to be one and the same entity.
Yes, if Reedy Creek and Disney were found to be one and the same thing then there would be some standing for a 1st amendment violation committed against Disney.
HOWEVER, if Reedy Creek and the Walt Disney Company were legally found to be the same entity, then for 55 years Disney has been committing securities fraud.
The “cities” of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista have been issuing municipal bonds for a long time. Munis are sought after for investment portfolios because they are tax-free and much lower risk than corporate bonds. But if Disney and Reedy Creek are and (this is so much worse) have always been the same entity, then a publically traded corporation has been issuing tax-free bonds as a government entity.
It is completely and absolutely illegal for a corporation to issue tax-free municipal bonds. If Disney and Reedy Creek are legally declared to be the same entity, then that is what Disney has been doing for a half-century. I keep hearing the number $1 billion, but that is just what current debt is. IF Disney and RCID were found to have always been the same entity then Disney could suddenly be held liable for billions in back taxes, to include interest and penalties.
In case you are wondering there is legal precedent in Florida that goes against Disney in this matter. The company that runs The Villages (such a creepy name) tried issuing municipal bonds using their towns as a duck blind and got shot down hard by the state courts.
The only two things that Disney has going for it is that, one, this thing was going on for a half-century and it was obvious that it was going on. And two, Florida doesn’t want to put Disney World out of business.
There are a lot of things that COULD happen if Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista are dissolved. Corporate officers could be held criminally liable, Disney could have fifty years of tax penalties imposed on it and Disney World itself could have a lien placed on it. It could get seized by the state and sold off.
The big question is, why is Disney pursuing this? There is no possible way that the risk outweighs the reward.
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