DeSantis began retaliating against Disney World this week, including with allies in the legislature.
One key ally, Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, previously held Disney stock but said he sold on principle.
A top Democrat, Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, also has Disney shares.
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A key Florida lawmaker helping Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis claw back control of Walt Disney World’s special tax district was once a Walt Disney Company investor, annual disclosures show.
The most recently available annual financial disclosure document for GOP Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, of Spring Hill, shows that he held nearly $20,000 in shares of the Walt Disney World Company at the end of 2021.
Asked about the stock holding, the senator told Insider that he sold the shares after Disney vowed it would work to overturn the Parental Rights in Education Act, the law at the center of the DeSantis-Disney feud that restricts instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools, particularly up to third grade.
“As a principled, consistent conservative I sold the stock shortly after Disney publicly sided with allowing teachers to teach sexual orientation and gender identity to children under the age of 8 years in our schools,” Ingoglia, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, told Insider.
Democrats and LGBTQ rights advocates refer to the law in question as “Don’t Say Gay,” and the state’s Department of Education this week expanded the law to 12th grade, limiting LGBTQ instruction to sex ed classes and those “required by existing state standards.”
On Tuesday, Ingoglia introduced an amendment to retroactively invalidate an agreement between Disney and its former district board, as Republicans work to dismantle special privileges the resort and theme park has had in the Sunshine State for decades. DeSantis already signed two bills to that effect, but Disney created a loophole.
Yohana de la Torre, a representative for Ingoglia, refused to provide Insider with evidence that contained a date showing when the senator sold his Disney shares, saying it was a matter of “personal financials” he was “not obligated to release.”
Other companies listed in Ingoglia’s 2021 portfolio included Amazon and Apple, whose CEO also raised concerns about legislation like that passed in Florida.
Insider regularly reports on the financial ties of elected officials through its exhaustive “Conflicted Congress” project. The reporting elevated the topic of stock trading on Capitol Hill, leading to the introduction of new legislation and a US House hearing about the practice.
Benjamin Wilcox, research director for the nonpartisan government ethics group Integrity Florida, told Insider that lawmakers’ decisions to hold or trade stocks in companies they have the power to regulate can raise conflict-of-interest questions, or even the appearance of them.
Since 2022, DeSantis has been creating headaches for the Disney resort and theme park not just legislatively, but through board members he appointed to oversee Disney’s special tax district. The board members met Wednesday and said they were considering new taxes and public transit around Disney, as well as workforce affordable housing; DeSantis went much farther, warning the state could try to build a prison on the adjacent land. When the legislature first moved to dissolve the special tax district in 2022, Disney’s stocks took a tumble.
“It’s a pretty convenient explanation to say he’s doing it out of principle because he disagrees with the position Disney is taking on the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law,” Wilcox said of Ingoglia. “But there is a practical side to it. If he thought that Disney was going to be in a prolonged battle to avoid these sanctions that DeSantis is pushing, he could have realized maybe it’s time to get out.”
Ingoglia told Insider that he manages his stocks himself, and that they were long-term holds with a retirement or brokerage account. “I do not trade stocks,” he said. He added that “elected officials have the right to own stock and invest in public companies like all citizens” but “do not have the right to trade on insider information to enrich themselves.” Ingoglia released a video 11 years ago that criticized members of Congress for buying and selling stocks.
During a Monday press conference with the governor, Ingoglia warned Disney it would lose the battle with DeSantis and poked fun at the company through a reference to a hit song from the movie “Frozen.”
“One word of advice for Disney going forward: Let it go. Just let it go,” he said.
Then-Rep. Ron DeSantis flips through a packet about the IRS during a 2016 hearing.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Florida lawmakers report their finances annually
Unlike members of Congress, Florida legislators aren’t required by law to regularly report their stock transactions soon after they occur. Instead, they’re required only to share a snapshot for the year — generally the date represented is December 31 of each year.
The earliest-available financial documents reviewed by Insider are from 2021, and the 2022 documents won’t be posted publicly until this summer at the earliest. Disney first came out against the Parental Rights bill in March 2022.
Wilcox said that more frequent financial reporting, such as quarterly or every six months, rather than every year, would create better transparency, including with other lawmakers.
“It would be interesting to see if any of these legislators sold Disney stock after this bill passes or doesn’t pass, whether they try to ensure that they’re not going to lose money on their investment,” Wilcox said of the latest amendment the legislature will consider.
The governor’s office did not reply to questions for this story. In his new book, “The Courage To Be Free,” DeSantis wrote that he stopped trading stocks before going to Congress in 2013.
“Reports abounded about members of Congress making a killing in the market based on inside information,” he wrote. “I did not want to be in a position where a vote or other action I took could be questioned based on what stocks I owned.”
The financial ties to Disney underscore the company’s largess and influence in Florida, where it’s the state’s biggest attraction. The Walt Disney Studios is headquartered in Burbank, California, but the company holds powerful sway in Florida through Walt Disney World, which has roughly 80,000 employees.
Sen. Lauren Book, a Democrat of Plantation, Florida, gestures as she speaks to the media on February 6, 2023 in the Senate Office Building at the Capitol in Tallahassee.
Phil Sears/AP Photo
A top Florida Democrat also has Disney shares
For this story, Insider reviewed financial documents for Florida legislators involved in the Disney feud, including bill sponsors, as well as leaders in both chambers.
The other personal financial ties uncovered were for a Democrat, Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, of Plantation, Florida.
Book held more than $30,000-worth of Disney stock, according to a 2021 snapshot of her finances, and is on the opposite side of Ingoglia both ideologically and on the question of Disney’s authority. She has criticized the governor over his attempts to control Disney’s district, saying it was retribution for them speaking out.
“Government regulation to ensure accountability and fairness toward workers and consumers is one thing – but the politically motivated overreach we are seeing today is dangerous and wrong,” she told Insider.
Book called DeSantis’ actions a “political mission” that “goes against both the best interests of our state and the values of our country.”
“Clearly, any shareholder holdings that I have in a publicly traded company have no bearing on my actions in this ongoing battle,” she said. “I am proud to fight for what I see as true freedom for small businesses and large economic drivers alike.”
But Wilcox said that her holdings could raise conflicts-of-interest questions as well, given that she opposes actions the GOP-supermajority legislature is poised to make that could hurt Disney financially.
Book said her portfolio was professionally managed and that she was initially given a single share of Disney stock from a family member when she was born.
Book said she would adhere to putting her holdings into a blind trust if the legislature were to create that requirement. These accounts are formal arrangements in which lawmakers officially transfer management of their financial assets to an independent trust, but it’s a time-consuming and expensive process.
One difference between the finances of Florida lawmakers and members of Congress, Book noted, was that the former hold jobs outside of their elected duties. Aside from leading Democrats in the lower chamber and representing her district, Book is founder of Lauren’s Kids, a nonprofit that fights against child sexual abuse.
“Broadly, I do not believe there is a conflict of interest in owning shares in a publicly traded company managed by a professional who uses their own judgment on my investments,” Book said. “Specifically, I do not see a conflict of interest here, and if I did, I would obviously make a disclosure.”
In response to this week’s actions from the Florida legislature and the governor-appointed board, Disney publicized an LGBTQ Pride event it has coming up at its Disneyland resort in California, and announced it had plans to build affordable housing units in 2026. Disney CEO Bob Iger told Time he would be willing to sit down with DeSantis over the feud.
“If the governor of Florida wants to meet with me to discuss all of this, of course,” he said, “I would be glad to do that.”
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