The first television advertisement in Charlie Crist’s comeback campaign looks like a preview of how he plans to ask Floridians to give him his old job back.
The 30-second spot, airing in the Central Florida region around Disney World, focuses on the big bill DeSantis got from a recent special legislative session, repealing Disney’s legal sovereignty in Orange and Osceola counties.
Without getting bogged down in boring numbers, the advertisement alludes to expectations that dissolving the Reedy Creek Improvement District can saddle taxpayers with a billion dollars, or more, in added tax burden.
And it closes with a concerned-looking Charlie reminding voters that the governor would like to run for president in a few years. That’s why DeSantis is ginning up his conservative base with culture war stuff, Crist says.
There’s no mention of Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried or state Sen. Annette Taddeo, his opponents in the Democratic primary. It makes sense for Crist to act like he’s already the nominee and to focus on the governor. As the best-known candidate in the Democratic race, having run statewide a half-dozen times before, Crist doesn’t need to tell Democrats why he thinks he’s the strongest contender against the popular and well-funded DeSantis.
And besides, when challenging an incumbent, you make him or her the issue.
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DeSantis has been all over the national news lately for repealing the 1967 law that made Reedy Creek a government unto itself within the nearly 40 square miles Disney owns. After DeSantis got lapdog legislators to enact his Parental Rights in Education Act, forbidding discussion of sexual matters through third grade and permitting only “age-appropriate” topics in all public schools, the Disney corporation was cajoled by an employee backlash into issuing a statement opposing the new law.
So the governor and Republican legislators retaliated against the corporation — Florida’s biggest single-site employer with nearly 80,000 “cast members” — by repealing Reedy Creek, effective in June of 2023.
The legality of that will be thrashed out in court and, once the Republicans get past the Nov. 8 elections, they can find some face-saving way to retreat from the culture wars and let Disney regain its fiefdom.
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Crist, a Tampa Bay-area congressman who was elected governor (as a Republican) from 2007 to 2010, opens his first TV salvo with a couple of video clips from news programs about DeSantis and Disney.
Orange County tax collector Scott Randolph then appears to say “Orange County would have to raise property taxes 15 to 20 %” if local residents have to cover Reedy Creek’s bond debt and operating costs.
“DeSantis wants to run for president and he’s whipping up his base by attacking Disney,” Crist says in the TV ad. “He doesn’t care that Disney brings thousands of tourists to Florida, or that his bill would cost taxpayers millions.”
He concludes, “Ron, if you want to run for president, do it — but don’t make us pay your DeSan-TAX.”
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By campaign rhetoric standards, that’s a fair shot. Whether it will persuade many undecided voters is another matter.
For his part, DeSantis says not to sweat it. Press spokesperson Christina Pushaw, the ever-alert Cerberus of the governor’s office, tweeted her response to the tax-hike speculation.
“About the Reedy Creek special district: Disney will pay its fair share of taxes,” Pushaw wrote. “Floridians, including residents of Orange and Osceola Counties, will not be on the hook. Do not fall for another partisan political lie being amplified by media.”
Crist coupled his first TV spot with a fund-raising message e-mailed to supporters on Thursday.
“Ron DeSantis wants to run for president and Floridians are being forced to pick up the tab. And we need to make sure every single Floridian knows it,” said his appeal. “Ron DeSantis has a nearly endless pile of cash in his campaign coffers, so he’ll have no problem disseminating his extreme message.”
DeSantis sent the Reedy Creek legislation to House and Senate members on the first day of a quickie special legislative session and they passed it with no fiscal analysis. If it survives in court, they’ll have time to fix it in the 2023 session, well before its effective date.
Meanwhile, we’re sure to hear a lot more about Disney and the “parental rights” education bill in the coming campaign. And that was pretty much the whole point of passing it in the first place.
Bill Cotterell is a retired Tallahassee Democrat capitol reporter who writes a twice-weekly column. He can be reached at bcotterell@tallahassee.com
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