(Orlando) Disney filed a lawsuit claiming the Walt Disney World Administrative District, which was taken over by appointees of Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this year, failed to disclose documents and keep records properly, in violation of Florida’s public records laws.
Disney said in its complaint filed Friday that the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, often abbreviated in English as CFTOD, had been so slow in fulfilling its public recordkeeping obligations that it had failed to respond completely to a request the company made seven months ago when it paid more than $2,400 to receive emails and text messages belonging to the five district board members appointed by Mr. DeSantis.
Disney, Mr. DeSantis and Mr. DeSantis’s appointees are already fighting for control of the administrative district in two ongoing lawsuits in federal and state courts.
PHOTO NICK ROHLMAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Florida Governor and 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis.
The public records lawsuit asks a judge to review all records the district claims are exempt from disclosure, declare the district to be in violation of the state’s public records law and order the district to disclose the documents requested by Disney.
“CFTOD prevented Disney from discovering its government’s actions through public records requests, in violation of Florida law,” states the complaint filed in state court in Orlando. The Court should grant relief to Disney. »
An email was sent to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District for comment on the matter.
The new lawsuit claims the district is failing to follow public records laws in other ways, including allowing board members appointed by Mr. DeSantis to use personal emails and text messages for district business without implementing a procedure to ensure that they are retained and without ensuring that board members do not automatically delete messages dealing with district business.
The feud between Mr. DeSantis and Disney began last year after the company publicly opposed the state’s “Don’t say gay” law, which bans classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in the early school years.
The law was championed by Governor DeSantis, a candidate for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in 2024. In retaliation, Mr. DeSantis and Republican lawmakers took back control of the district that Disney had controlled for more than five decades and installed five board members loyal to the governor.
About 50 of the roughly 370 employees have left the Central Florida Tourism Supervisory District since it was taken over in February, raising concerns that decades of institutional knowledge could disappear with them, along with a reputation for well-managed government.