Lawyers for the Walt Disney Company tried to hide their authorship of a rushed development agreement with a local Florida board that heavily favored the company, according to internal emails.
These emails revealed that Disney’s attorneys tried to hide their involvement in the writing of the agreement and were concerned about the “optics” if the company was perceived as the author.
After criticism of “woke” Disney’s policies, the Florida Governor. Ron DeSantis has eliminated RCID in an effort to gain more control over Disney World.
Before RCID’s dissolution, the organization reached a last-minute development agreement with Disney to undermine the state’s efforts to increase oversight in the area.
According to Fox News Digital, reviewed emails were read out loud at the meeting of the board on Wednesday revealing that an earlier draft of the agreement listed Walt Disney World Resort Chief Counsel John McGowan, but McGowan would have preferred to put someone else’s signature on the document.
McGowan wrote: “My name appears at the top as a drafter of the document.” “I am fine with my name being on the document, but it is not ideal from an aesthetic perspective.” “It would be better if a Disney employee was the drafter.”
According to emails sent later, McGowan was eventually removed from the final agreement draft.
DeSantis signed HB 9B this year, a law that stripped Disney’s self-governance rights and returned oversight to the state.
Click Orlando reported that the bill replaced RCID by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board. The CFTOD discovered recently that the previous board had developed plans with Disney before a new Florida law was enacted. This gave Disney control over the district’s rights to development.
DeSantis stated Monday that the “last-ditch” deal was designed to usurp authority from the CFTOD Board.
The governor stated Monday at a press conference that “Disney’s laws are not superior to those enacted by Florida.” They thought they could create an agreement to render all our work null and void. This is not going to work.
On Wednesday, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board debated the development agreement as well as the legality and finality of the RCID’s last-minute deal.
