Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson slammed Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s (R-FL) feud with Disney, saying it is “not what a conservative is about.”
The former Arkansas governor accused DeSantis of punishing Disney for its speech, while speaking on Fox News Sunday.
FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL TELLS DISNEY STATE COULD PUBLICIZE RECORDS AS DESANTIS FEUD HEATS UP
“I don’t believe if you’re on the left or the right of the political spectrum that government should not be telling business what they can and cannot do in terms of speech. And however you describe it, it appears to me that the governor did not like what Disney was doing in terms of what they were saying and exercising speech, so they’re being punished,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said that politicians should not be “heavy-handed in government” to punish companies that “are creating jobs for Americans and creating income and growing the private sector.”
“That is not what republicanism is about. That’s not what a conservative is about,” he said.
Hutchinson then said that he believed both DeSantis and Disney have gotten the situation wrong but asserted the Florida governor was wrong to “use the heavy-handed government” to punish the entertainment giant.
“I think he is getting it wrong on Disney. I think Disney got it wrong themselves from the beginning. You don’t use the heavy-handed government to punish a business. So yes, I think that is wrong,” he said.
Hutchinson is the latest politician to go after DeSantis for his battle with Disney, after former President Donald Trump, former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ), and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) all slammed him for the move in recent days.
DeSantis has been working to take control of the special district encompassing the Walt Disney World Resort but has faced some roadblocks as Disney has fought to maintain its autonomy.
The new governor-appointed board of the district and the state legislature have been working to invalidate an agreement Disney made with the previous board to strip power from the new DeSantis-appointed board.
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The battle between DeSantis and Disney, which led to Disney’s Central Florida district being restructured, stemmed from the entertainment giant’s comments denouncing DeSantis’s push for the Parental Rights in Education Act last year. Disney had maintained full autonomy over the district since its creation in 1967.
On Thursday, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody issued a warning to Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger, advising him that some internal documents could be subject to the state’s public records law and released publicly amid an ongoing investigation of the former Reedy Creek Improvement District.
