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Kimberly Leonard's must-read briefing on what's hot, crazy or shady about politics in the Sunshine State | | | | |  | | By Kimberly Leonard | |  The Walt Disney Co. commissioned a study about Walt Disney World's economic impact. | Getty Images for Disney Dreamers Academy | Good morning and welcome to Wednesday. Disney has a new message for Gov. Ron DeSantis: When you mess with the state’s cash cow, you’re actually hurting Florida. To show just how valuable the world’s biggest theme park is to Florida, Disney commissioned a study, released yesterday, that found that Walt Disney’s properties and businesses — including its cruise lines — brought $40.3 billion to Florida in jobs, tourism, spending, small business creation and tax revenue. The report shows how Disney is fighting the public relations war against DeSantis, outside the dueling lawsuits over who controls the land surrounding Disney World in Central Florida. The fight between the California-based entertainment giant and the governor started over a 2022 DeSantis-backed law that restricts how teachers can talk about gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms. Yet the report out yesterday shows just how much Disney is leaning into an economic argument rather than trying to re-litigate the culture wars. It plans to play up its economic heft to the public through TV and online ads, per Bloomberg. Just to pile on, Disney recently announced that it planned to spend $60 billion on its parks over the next decade. Executives said in interviews that they hoped the state would be open to this kind of investment. In other words: When Disney thrives, Florida thrives. There’s a lot at stake. The report also found Disney supports more than 263,000 jobs in the state, not just through its 82,000 employees — all of whom are known internally as “cast members” — but through roughly 2,500 small businesses whose workers provide products and services to Disney. The theme park also helps bring in a total of $6.6 billion in tax revenue, the report found. That’s not the end of the story. Disney’s latest earnings report released a week ago showed that its parks division is a lucrative part of its business. The decades-long arrangement it enjoyed in Central Florida with its special tax district helped the park thrive and develop quickly. That kind of reliable cash influx is a huge help to the mega corporation, especially when its movies bomb. DeSantis continues to use the fight against Disney on the presidential campaign trail as the race for No. 2 narrows between himself and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. Just yesterday on a South Carolina radio station, he criticized Haley for backing Disney in their feud. “She criticized me for standing up for kids and the innocence of their curriculum against Disney where they wanted the sexualized curriculum in elementary school,” he said. “So I stood up for parents, I stood up for kids, she sided with a woke corporation.” DeSantis hasn’t acknowledged a slew of negative headlines regarding the district’s management following his overhaul, including an Orlando Sentinel report that found his political allies are collecting six-figure salaries and a Seeking Rents story showing longtime district employees have been quitting en masse. The district also canceled a contract with a telecommunications firm set to revamp its 911 network, after a WFTV report gave the appearance of favoritism. The district will now have to start over and allow open bidding for the contract. The DeSantis-appointed Central Florida Tourism Oversight District will hold its next meeting this morning. The main issues on the agenda will be to approve a union contract for certain firefighters and authorizing new transportation contracts, but it’s possible one of the board members will address the commissioned report or that someone will bring it up during the public comment period. — WHERE'S RON? Gov. DeSantis will join The Glenn Beck Radio Program at 11:30 a.m. ET. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for Playbook? Get in touch at: kleonard@politico.com |  | ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... | | | | | | GO INSIDE THE CAPITOL DOME: From the outset, POLITICO has been your eyes and ears on Capitol Hill, providing the most thorough Congress coverage — from political characters and emerging leaders to leadership squabbles and policy nuggets during committee markups and hearings. We're stepping up our game to ensure you’re fully informed on every key detail inside the Capitol Dome, all day, every day. Start your day with Playbook AM, refuel at midday with our Playbook PM halftime report and enrich your evening discussions with Huddle. Plus, stay updated with real-time buzz all day through our brand new Inside Congress Live feature. Learn more and subscribe here. | | | | |
TODAY — House subcommittee meetings, including on energy and workforce. (Tune in.)
AHEAD OF SENATE BUDGET HEARING — Florida may need to spend anywhere from $6.3 billion to $11.8 billion on repairs and new construction over the next 20 years on its beleaguered prison system — as well as $200 million to $700 million a year on staff. That’s according to a new master plan prepared by KPMG on behalf of the Department of Management Services that looks at the needs of the Department of Corrections and calls the current path “unsustainable.” It notes staff turnover and job vacancies and says the prison system has safety and security risks presently. The report will be presented to a Senate budget committee on Wednesday where there will likely be a lot of questions about the suggestions made. KPMG says in its report that came to the conclusion after more than 60 interviews and 153 assessments done of existing prisons. The report includes three different estimates on how much it would cost to fix the system, including building new prisons but also shutting some facilities that are considered too expensive to repair. — Gary Fineout $59 M SHORTFALL — DeSantis' moves on Israel and the border draining emergency fund, reports POLITICO’s Gary Fineout. DeSantis has spent nearly $140 million out of a state-created emergency fund on signature programs he has touted repeatedly on the presidential campaign trail and used to contrast himself with President Joe Biden. The money has been used for flights to evacuate Americans out of Israel and to deploy Florida law enforcement agents and highway troopers to the Texas-Mexico border — as well as a much-publicized flight of migrants to Sacramento this past summer. It also paid for Florida’s response to migrants coming from Cuba and Haiti in the Florida Keys.
|  U.K. Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images | ACROSS THE POND — DeSantis signed a trade deal with the United Kingdom on Tuesday, following the governor’s trade mission to London in April. The U.K. is already Florida’s top foreign investor, and the new deal covers a wide range of financial and academic areas, with UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch saying Tuesday that “space was at the top of that list.” The Florida-U.K. deal comes on the heels of President Joe Biden pulling back on the Indo-Pacific agreement, amid opposition from Senate Democrats. — “Florida may stop requiring daily school recess. Moms group says no way,” reports the Tampa Bay Times’ Jeffrey S. Solochek ABORTION AMENDMENT — “State Attorney General Ashley Moody has joined other abortion-rights opponents in asking the Florida Supreme Court to schedule oral arguments about whether a proposed constitutional amendment enshrining that right belongs on the ballot,” reports Florida Phoenix’s Michael Moline. 100-FOLD INCREASE — In push to remove homeowners from Citizens, the state-run insurer uses unlicensed inspectors, reports WLRN’s Daniel Rivero. “In 2019, Citizens Insurance … ordered 2,200 home inspections. By the end of 2023, the company estimates that it will have ordered about 300,000 home inspections.” | | | PENINSULA AND BEYOND | | |
BOOK CHALLENGES — The fight over Florida’s book restrictions is moving from classrooms to police stations.
Last month, a member of the conservative parents group Moms for Liberty reported several librarians with the Santa Rosa County School District to local law enforcement. Moms for Liberty members, Jennifer Tapley and Tom Gurski, accused the school of providing explicit material to a 17-year old student at Jay High School. The incident was first reported by Jedd Legum, who writes the Popular Information newsletter. “The governor says this is child pornography,” Tapley told police, according to police body cam footage posted by Popular Information. “It’s a serious crime.” Tapley sought the removal of “Storm and Fury” by Jennifer Armentrout, a fiction novel that includes sexual themes and mentions an 18-year-old main character having sex. “We’re living in an era where, apparently, some adults find it appropriate to contact the police over a fictional book involving gargoyles,” Armentrout wrote on her Facebook page. “Admittedly, involving the police did surprise me.” Tapley and Moms for Liberty didn’t respond to POLITICO’s request for comment but local police referred the case back to a school district safety official, who “quarantined” the book by removing it from shelves at Jay High School to be reviewed. Tapley claimed the book violated HB 1069, a Florida law that requires schools to remove books challenged for containing inappropriate content within five days of being flagged by parents. More than 1,400 books were banned in Florida public schools between July 2022 and June 2023, according to a September report by nonprofit PEN America. Deborah Caldwell-Stone, a director at the nonprofit American Library Association, is concerned about efforts to remove affirmative defense protections that have traditionally shielded educators from individuals who find fault with the distribution of controversial books. Several red-state legislatures, including Kansas and Idaho, have introduced bills — without success — that would erode these protections and potentially leave librarians exposed to criminal complaints, even if they didn’t personally distribute controversial materials to students. “That just creates a chilling effect and intimidates public servants who are simply trying to serve their communities and to serve everyone in the community with the books that individuals want to read,” Caldwell-Stone said. — Lawrence Ukenye SEVERED TIES — “The Sarasota County Commission voted to stop funding the county public library system’s membership in the American Library Association and Florida Library Association Tuesday, despite the urging of almost 60 speakers who spoke for roughly two hours Tuesday morning,” reports the Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s Earle Kimel. “In doing so, board members decried public comments that linked the prospect of book banning to the decision and side-stepped social justice issues related to ALA President Emily Drabinski while keying in on her self-professed Marxist leanings.” ON HOLD — FAU extends interim president amid stalled leadership search, reports POLITICO’s Andrew Atterbury. Florida Atlantic University trustees extended the contract of interim president Stacy Volnick on Tuesday as the school’s leadership search remains suspended by state officials. It remains unclear when FAU will be allowed by the state university system to resume its search, but this latest move locks in a seasoned administrator to lead the school until the end of 2024 as a safety net. | | CAMPAIGN MODE | | |  Nikki Haley gestures as she arrives at the Republican Jewish Coalition's Annual Leadership Summit at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas on Oct. 28, 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada. | Ethan Miller/Getty Images |
NEW FAVE — Citadel chief Ken Griffin is considering backing Nikki Haley in Republican primary over DeSantis, reports CNBC’s Brian Schwartz. “That’s a decision that we’re actively contemplating. I mean, we are at the finish line on that choice. Yes or no,” Griffin told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday when asked whether he’d be donating to Haley’s campaign.
ANOTHER FLIP — “Former Ambassador backs off DeSantis to finance Trump,” reports The Messenger’s Marc Caputo. “He’s prepared to cut a ‘half million to a million’ check to the former president’s MAGA Inc. super PAC to make his allegiance clear.” — “DeSantis says Mitt Romney 'never fought for us.' An unearthed yearbook photo shows he once campaigned for him,” reports ABC News. | | DATELINE D.C. | |
CLIMATE THREATS — Climate assessment report calls for ‘reimagining’ the coast, relocating development, reports POLITICO’s Bruce Ritchie. Rather than continuing the crush of development along the water’s edge in Florida and other states, a federal government report issued Tuesday says the effects of sea level rise “require fundamental reimagining of the coast.” The Fifth National Climate Assessment calls for “proactive planned relocation” — a view at odds with Florida’s real estate industry and state elected officials. The state has more than 1,100 miles of coastline.
| | | TRANSITION TIME | | |
— Erika Donalds joins Heritage Foundation as a visiting fellow focused on school choice, reports Florida Politics’ Jacob Ogles. Donalds, wife to U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, is a former Collier County School Board member, as well as founder and CEO of education company OptimaEd and the Optima Foundation.
— Robert Coker, U.S. Sugar senior vice president of public affairs, plans to retire Dec. 31, 2023. The current vice president of governmental affairs, Eric Edwards, will succeed him. | | ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN | |
NAKED AMBITION — Nudists are looking for sites to build a museum and library in Miami to help people learn about their culture, per Deirdra Funcheon of Axios Miami. Notable quote: "There's a massive percentage of MAGA people in naturism."
NAMESAKE — “The Hialeah City Council voted on Tuesday to designate Palm Avenue as ‘President Donald J. Trump Avenue,’ making good on Mayor Esteban ‘Steve’ Bovo’s promise less than a week ago to honor the former president with a namesake road in the majority-Hispanic, Republican stronghold,” reports The Miami Herald. BIRTHDAYS: State Rep. Michael Gottlieb … state Rep. Will Robinson … Evan Power, vice chairman at the Republican Party of Florida ... Trimmel Gomes of Gomes Media Strategies … Gayle Andrews, corporate and political media consultant | | | | GET A BACKSTAGE PASS TO COP28 WITH GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Get insider access to the conference that sets the tone of the global climate agenda with POLITICO's Global Playbook newsletter. Authored by Suzanne Lynch, Global Playbook delivers exclusive, daily insights and comprehensive coverage that will keep you informed about the most crucial climate summit of the year. Dive deep into the critical discussions and developments at COP28 from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12.. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |  |
