Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hinted that his battle with Disney is far from over Thursday.
“There’s a lot of little back-and-forths going on now with the state taking control, but rest assured, you know, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” he told a Smyrna, Georgia, crowd according to CNN. “There’s more to come in that regard.”
DeSantis made these comments a day after the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board, which controls land around and inside Disney’s Orlando area properties, revealed that Disney had quietly taken land-development power from the board right before the state took over in February.
The Republican governor signed a bill in February that removed Disney-aligned board members and allowed DeSantis to name replacements, but the outgoing board had previously agreed to give Disney veto authority over any public project in the Reedy Creek Improvement District.
The bill aimed to cut Disney’s special powers to tax, borrow and build in the Central Florida area after the company fought DeSantis on his law that reduced education about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.
“I don’t know that it’s the appropriate use of shareholder resources to be shilling for gender ideology in kindergarten, but nevertheless, that’s what they decided to do,” DeSantis said.
Despite Disney’s move to retain authority over development, DeSantis plans to continue efforts to take full control.
“They basically got everything they wanted for the many decades they’ve been operating in Florida – until now, because now there’s a new sheriff in town,” DeSantis said Thursday.
DeSantis’ latest book “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival, came out March 1.
In it, he revealed that he got married at Disney World, devoting an entire chapter to the wedding.