Rick Scott is ready for dialogue between Ron DeSantis and The Walt Disney Co.
During a radio hit on WIOD, the Senator said that Governors need to “work with” companies, a seeming rebuke to DeSantis’ ongoing war with the company in the wake of its resistance to 2022’s Parental Rights in Education law.
“We’ve got to figure out how to work with our companies. My goal is to sit down with people and find out: How do you get things done?” Scott said.
“I got conservative things passed every year I was Governor,” he added. “So I think it’s important that every Governor in the country work with their business community to say, ‘How can we work together?’”
Scott went on to note that Disney is a leading economic engine in the state.
“I think half the people who come to Florida as tourists go to Disney … 25% of our sales tax is paid by tourists,” Scott said. “So it’s a big deal for our budget.”
“I hope that cooler heads are going to prevail and we get this resolved,” he added.
Scott then recounted a story of his own parents’ difficulty in finding work.
“I grew up with parents without jobs,” Scott explained. “It’s just a horrible experience when you, when your parents are struggling to put food on the table and they’re crying about how they don’t have enough money when you watch your little brother can’t get the health care he needs.”
Scott’s comments track with other recent thoughts on the DeSantis divide with Disney.
“I mean, we’ve got to (let) cooler heads prevail,” Scott recently told Fox News Radio’s Brian Kilmeade, echoing what he said weeks ago on the subject.
The Governor signed legislation changing Disney’s special district in the wake of the company opposing 2022’s Parental Rights in Education law, leading to Disney filing a federal lawsuit against DeSantis and other state parties for a “targeted campaign of government retaliation.”
DeSantis is leaning into the fight, saying the former Reedy Creek Improvement District was “not good for Florida” last Thursday while in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the state-appointed Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board plans to countersue Disney in state court. And the state is ready to inspect Disney’s monorail, in another punitive measure.
This all suggests that “cooler heads” won’t “prevail” anytime soon.
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