At last week’s Central Florida Tourism Oversight District meeting, Board member Bridget Ziegler attended the meeting via Zoom. She only spoke once, voting to approve a report accusing Disney World of bribing the former Reedy Creek Improvement District Board. She did not appear on the screen; it only showed her initials, BZ. So, there is no way of gauging her ...

It’s hard to believe that at one point, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Walt Disney Company were on friendly terms. It was even more than just that. Disney gave Governor DeSantis thousands for his election and re-election campaigns, and that gave Disney the governor’s ear. But obviously, all that has changed. Related: Funny Story, DeSantis’ Disney Laws May Be Unconstitutional ...

There is a scene in the movie Concussion (2015) where Alec Baldwin’s character, Dr. Julian Bailes, is trying to explain America’s obsession with football to Will Smith’s Nigerian-born character, Dr. Bennett Omalu. Bailes held us two fingers and said, “my daddy, a Louisiana judge, always said that in the South God is first.” He then switched his hand to hold ...

This week’s Central Florida Tourism Oversight District meeting was supposed to be pretty straightforward. The Board appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis received a report alleging that Disney World bought influence with the former Reedy Creek Improvement District Board by giving them season passes to Disney World and discounts on merchandise, food, and hotels. None of these revelations is necessarily ...

Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board Member Bridget Ziegler attended the Board’s meeting this week…sort of. Ziegler attended the meeting via Zoom, but she did not appear on screen and only uttered one word at the end of the meeting. The fact that Ziegler is hiding from public view speaks volumes about the scandal currently surrounding her family. Related: New Report ...

When the Walt Disney Company’s feud with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis first started, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley invited Disney to move Walt Disney World to the Palmetto State. It wasn’t so much a serious offer, but Haley was ribbing her opponent for the Republican nomination for president. As much as the rest of us did, Haley knew that ...

When the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District took over the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the new Board promised a new level of transparency it said was missing from the previous Board. But since the takeover, the new Board has worked to hand over contracts to firms with close political ties to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and in some cases without ...

Will the last person to leave the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District please turn out the lights? Since the new Board took over in February, more than 40 employees have left the District, taking hundreds of years of service to the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Employees who have left the District have reported that it has become “politicized” and “no ...

Back in August, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District paid conservative law professor Donald Kochan to write a report on the history of the Reedy Creek Improvement District and its relationship with Walt Disney World over its 56 years of existence. For his efforts, the Board paid Kochan $115,000. But right from the beginning, Kochan’s report aimed to find any ...

Over the past few weeks, a common theme has been surrounding the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District and the “Don’t Back Down” Super PAC supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. That theme, disfunction. The new Board of DeSantis appointees have seen over 10 percent of its workforce leave since it took over in February, taking more than 400 years of service ...