Democrat bids to lure Disney to North Carolina as DeSantis doubles down

A North Carolina legislator offers Disney an alternative to battling Florida Governor Ron DeSantis: a new home in his state.

State Senator Michael Garrett and two other Democrats have proposed the “Mickey’s Freedom Restoration Act,” which would create a committee to investigate whether Disney would move the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT Center, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and its hotels and golf courses to North Carolina.

The state would prepare “strategic economic stimulus plans” to encourage the move.

North Carolina is a great place to do business. Politicians who jeopardize their economies to boost their own political ambitions are a risk,” Garrett wrote on Twitter.

“I welcome the @WaltDisneyCo and all other companies seeking refuge from the culture war madness gripping the state of Florida,” he commented.

DeSantis declared war on the house Mickey Mouse built after the company spoke out against its so-called Don’t Say Gay law. He and the GOP-controlled Florida legislature removed a Disney-controlled board of trustees to replace it with one appointed by the governor.

The Republican governor is issuing threats including hotel taxes, road tolls, repeal of some special exemptions and legal action.

He has threatened to build a prison on state lands next to Walt Disney World and his board has warned it could use the threatened domain to take land from Disney, go after the company for what it claims is back taxes and affordable housing. place in the area.

North Carolina’s bill, meanwhile, includes $750,000 to create an 11-member committee that would determine whether it was worth “encouraging family theme parks” to move to the state.

It is unlikely that the Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature will pass Garrett’s law. And it’s unclear whether it would be worth it for Disney to uproot its 25,000-acre theme park to move to another state via I-95.

But the move indicates that the DeSantis War could backfire.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has slammed the one threat against the Disney company

The North Carolina bill forms a committee to investigate Disney World’s move to that state

Some national Republicans are speaking out against DeSantis.

Former President Donald Trump has predicted that Disney’s next move could be to leave Florida. He slammed DeSantis, who is expected to run for the Republican presidential nomination, for his war.

‘DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Tuesday morning, using a shorter version of his usual nickname “DeSanctimonious.”

“His original PR plan failed, so now he’s going back with a new one to save face,” he added. “Disney’s next move will be to announce that no more money will be invested in Florida because of the governor.”

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who would also be considering a presidential bid, also criticized DeSantis for attacking the largest employer in the state of Florida.

“I don’t think Ron DeSantis is conservative based on actions toward Disney,” he said Tuesday. “Where are we going now, if you disagree with this country, the government is going to punish you now? To me, that’s what I always thought liberals did, and now all of a sudden we’re in on this with a Republican governor.”

But Republicans in Florida support DeSantis’ move.

Republican congressman Brian Mast pointed out that the Orlando area has many theme parks in addition to Disney World, including Sea World, Universial, Lego Land, and others.

“Nobody else gets that treatment,” he told DailyMail.com when comparing those parks to Disney. ‘No one.’

And he doesn’t think DeSantis’ war would make other companies think twice about coming to Florida.

“There is no other company in the state that has a special status that Disney has. So I don’t think that’s a concern,” he said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Disney no longer ‘runs’ Florida thanks to his leadership

Meanwhile, DeSantis remains defiant in his attacks on the Disney company.

“You know, they ran Florida maybe 50 years before I got on the scene, but they don’t run Florida anymore,” he said of Disney during a campaign stop in South Carolina on Wednesday.

On Monday, DeSantis went to Disney’s hometown to escalate his war. There he dropped his remarkable announcement that he is considering putting criminals next to the parked theme visited by millions of families with their children every year.

And he stated that the state legislature, controlled by his party, would invalidate Disney’s legal maneuvers that effectively stripped his new board of trustees of the company.

And he promised more crackdowns to come.

On Wednesday, its new board warned Disney it could surround the theme park with affordable housing and demand it pay its back taxes as the state continues to retaliate against the entertainment giant for trying to thwart the governor’s authority.

“The bottom line is that Disney is running a prank worthy of Scrooge McDuck trying to circumvent Florida law,” said attorney David Thompson, who was hired by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board to investigate the legality. of Disney’s use of an obscure legal clause tied to King Charles III to outwit DeSantis.