In a newly filed document in ongoing litigation against the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, Disney says that the District has been “plagued by chaos and upheaval” in its first year of operation. The Motion for Injunctive Relief was filed late last week after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came to Disney World to hold a press conference at CFTOD headquarters to boast about the first year of Disney operating under his thumb. The former Presidential hopeful didn’t mention the three ongoing lawsuits that he and his hand-picked CFTOD Board of Supervisors are named in, and he didn’t mention the dozens of employees who quit when he took over.
In this document, Disney says that “it is no secret that CFTOD’s first year has been plagued by chaos and upheaval”, pointing to nearly 50 employees and senior leaders leaving the District. Disney says that the “rapid turnover shows no signs of slowing down” and pointed to a deposition where CFTOD’s Public Records Administrator said that employee morale is low, and basic day-to-day operations are a challenge. The employee said that employees are quitting out of sheer frustration and a desire to avoid being associated with “a very, very, very politically motivated Board”.
Disney outlines its worry that as those employees quit, “they are taking public records with them” due to a lack of policy within the District regarding public records on personal devices, among other failures. Disney says that there is a systemic failure within the District to collect and preserve public records and that there is a concern that if the court doesn’t intervene quickly “even more public records may be irretrievably lost with each passing day”.
Disney points to one of its public records requests of Board Chairman Martin Garcia’s text messages to show the issues with the District’s policies, or lack thereof. Disney says that when a public records request is filed, “it relies exclusively on its employees and Board members to search their own accounts and devices to identify responsive records”. Disney says that the “pitfalls of relying on untrained and self-interested custodians to select their own responsive records are obvious”.
Disney said that when CFTOD did not produce records for a request clearly encompassing records within Garcia’s possession, the District used an ambiguous excuse, citing “technological hurdles”. When pressed for more information, it was revealed that District Chairman Martin Garcia “could not figure out how to screenshot [his text messages]”.
In the Motion for Injunctive Relief, Disney asks the court for the following ruling:
- Require the CFTOD to make a full forensic image of the personal devices of all departing employees and Board members who may have used the devices in connection to official business
- Require the CFTOD to certify, in writing, that auto-delete functions on personal devices connected to official business are disabled
- Prohibit CFTOD employees and Board members from using external messaging applications that automatically delete messages
As a reminder, there are three ongoing lawsuits, two of them brought by Disney and one brought by the CFTOD. This particular lawsuit is one brought by Disney against the CFTOD, alleging Florida Public Records Act violations.
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