Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated she had no “plan” to read Governor Ron DeSantis’s (R., Fl.) opinion piece in which he defended recent legislation removing Disney’s favorable tax status in Florida.
“So I’m going to be very frank with you,” Jean-Pierre said. “I have not read the op-ed, and frankly, I don’t plan to.”
“So we’re not going to play political games. That’s not something that we do here. We’re going to continue to stay very focused, laser-focused on delivering for the American people. And I’m not going to read that op-ed,” the press secretary added.
DeSantis’s opinion piece explained why the governor signed into law on Monday a bill ending Disney’s “self-governing status over 43 miles in central Florida,” which is “an area almost as big as Miami.”
“Disney’s special arrangement, which dates to 1967, was an indefensible example of corporate welfare. It provided the company with favorable tax treatment, including the ability to assess its own property valuations and to enjoy the benefits of regional infrastructure improvements without paying taxes toward the projects,” DeSantis wrote in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday.
The bill empowers the governor to appoint a five-person board responsible for overseeing the provision of government services across Disney’s sprawling park.
“Today the corporate kingdom finally comes to an end,” Governor DeSantis said during the bill signing on Monday. “There’s a new sheriff in town, and accountability will be the order of the day.”
Many believe that DeSantis targeted Disney for its opposition to the Parental Rights in Education bill, which sought to curtail the teaching of progressive gender ideology in state elementary schools. Critics dubbed the legislation, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
Disney’s former CEO Bob Chapek lobbied DeSantis earlier to express the company’s “disappointment and concern that if the legislation becomes law, it could be used to unfairly target gay, lesbian, nonbinary, and transgender kids and families.”
However, the pleas fell on deaf ears and DeSantis ultimately refused to acquiesce.
DeSantis closed his opinion piece with a commitment to make “Florida the state where the economy flourishes because we are the state where woke goes to die.”