March 25 2024
DeSantis’ Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Continues to be a Hot Mess… Again
In the never-ending saga that is the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (aka, the new Reedy Creek Improvement District board) there’s been a new wrinkle.
A quick premier for those just joining us- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis decided to make an example of the state’s largest private employer when Disney dared to criticize his “Don’t Say Gay” legislation. DeSantos, in his imperial phase, ordered the legislature to undo the over 50-year-old charter that had set up the Reedy Creek Improvement District as a way for the Disney company to control, politically, what happened on their property. The deal was, to put it mildly, interesting, as it devolved almost all political power from the state of Florida to the Walt Disney Company. But the deal worked well enough for 50 years, allowing Disney to have total control over its 27,000+ acre resort. Central Florida saw tremendous growth (in both population and tax base) while Disney kept its “bubble” safe.
A flurry of lawsuits, from both the state of Florida and the Walt Disney Company followed the legislative action that did away with Reedy Creek and introduced the Central Florida Tourism OVersight District (CFTOD). Disney sued on the grounds that they felt that DeSantis used the legislature to punish the company’s freedom of political speech. Florida, in return, sued Disney because of the last-minute deal that the Reedy Creek District approved as it was being dismantled. Then one of the board members got caught up in a scandal that also threatened the Florida GOP. Board member Bridget Ziegler missed a December 2023 meeting of the board. Ziegler is patient zero for DeSanti’s war against Disney. She helped found Moms for Liberty, the organization that was instrumental in getting the Parental Rights in Education Act through the Florida legislature, the very “Don’t Say Gay” law that Disney objected to in the first place. Then DeSantis appointed her to the CFTOD board. Subtle, DeSantis is not.
Missing a meeting is typically not a huge deal, but Ziegler’s absence happened after a woman accused Ziegler’s husband of rape; Ziegler has acknowledged that the woman alleging misconduct was once involved with Ziegler and her husband in an affair. Calls for Bridget Ziegler to resign her position on the Sarasota School Board have gone nowhere as she refuses to step down, and she still serves on the CFTOD board. Meanwhile, Ziegler’s husband was removed as Florida GOP chair in January 2024. All somewhat tawdry for sure, but also not a great look for DeSantis if he is trying to shame Disney.
So, to summarize the short — but by no means exhaustive — details: Since DeSantis decided to take on Disney, the largest private employer in Florida, he has incurred several lawsuits from Disney; the state has itself started several lawsuits against Disney; the state has been out-maneuvered by Disney despite undoing Disney’s political advantage in the district; the new board had one chair resign for unknown reasons, but after DeSantis appointed his wife as a judge, and had a second board member is now swept up in a tawdry, unfolding scandal. I have not even mentioned the problems with employees, including firefighters and law enforcement, in the district, the potential for Florida taxpayers to end up paying for the old district’s debt, or other issues involving the new board.
The latest development on the CFTOD hardly rises to the level of scandal, but it does ride to the level of “things that make you go hmmmm.” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has appointed Glen Gilzean as Supervisor of Elections in Orange County. And what does this have to do with the CFTOD? Mr. Gilzean also happens to serve as Administrator to the CFTOD, a job that pays him $400,000 a year.
Gilzean was appointed after the first chair abruptly resigned. Michael Sasso resigned from the board just four months into his term. Sasso never explained why he resigned, but DeSantis appointed Sasso’s wife, Meredith Sasso, to the Florida Supreme Court just before the resignation. The Sassos and DeSantis have a long history of traveling in the same circles.
It is not clear that Mr. Gilzean will stay on as Administrator to CFTOD or that if he did there would be a conflict of interest. Already, after DeSantis appointed him to chair the Florida Commission of Ethics in 2019 and reappointed him, Gilzean had to step down in 2022 after people pointed out that those who serve on that commission cannot hold other public offices (re-the CFTOD).
As Administrator to CFTOD, Gilzean abolished the district’s diversity, equity, and inclusion program (left over from the Reedy Creek days). He has come under fire for this from the organization he used to work for, the Central Florida Urban League.
So, are we back at a hot mess on the CFTOD? Glizean was appointed Administrator to clean up the last mess, but now he is the new mess.
It looks like that on Monday, March 11 DeSantis tried to clean up the mess by appointing Stephanie Kopelousos, one of his closest political advisors who was key in his unsuccessful bid for the GOP presidential nomination. She also worked on his Big Tech social media bill, which, ironically included a carved out for the Disney Company when it was passed three years ago, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
But the mess persists. Although it is expected that Gilzean will resign from the CFTOD, so far there is no word if he will give up his $400,000 a year salary he gets serving on the CFTOD board.
And to top off all of that, it was suddenly announced on March 13 that board chair Martin Garcia would step down (or perhaps was pushed out) immediately. Although Garcia had been a large donator to the DeSantis campaign, he was not as actively involved in the DeSantis administration as other board members have been.
What this really points to is a larger problem with DeSantis, his insistence on surrounding himself with political yesmen and political lackeys that bring little experiance to the business of running the world’s most successful amusement park/resort.
Dave Richards Politics 