So much for forgiveness. The Financial Times reported this morning that Florida legislators had begun “mulling” a reversal of their repeal of the Reedy Creek District, which allowed Disney to essentially govern their theme parks in Orlando. Supposedly, the change of heart related to Disney CEO Bob Iger’s public expression of regret for activism against the wildly popular Parental Rights in Education Act.

Not so fast, says Ron DeSantis. That new policy has a purpose beyond punishing Disney, and says it’s long past time that Disney operate its businesses on the same basis as other businesses in Florida:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis denied a report Friday that the state was considering reversing its decision to dissolve Disney’s special governing district near Orlando.

In a statement, a spokesperson for DeSantis said the governor “does not make U-turns.”

“The governor was right to champion removing the extraordinary benefit given to one company through the Reedy Creek Improvement District,” the governor’s office said. “We will have an even playing field for businesses in Florida, and the state certainly owes no special favors to one company. Disney’s debts will not fall on the taxpayers of Florida. A plan is in the works and will be released soon.” …

The 25,000-acre Reedy Creek property is a de facto city-within-a-city run by Disney. It allows the company to maintain its own infrastructure, roads, fire department, and water district so that Disney World is not reliant on state and local municipal services. It can also build or make changes to its physical properties without having to be responsive to a local planning board. And it can issue bonds to raise money for improvements.

Disney still pays property taxes and other levies to the jurisdictions in which it sits, including Orange and Osceola counties.

One has to wonder whether this policy was intended as punishment, or whether Chapek simply provided an opening for a long-simmering question about preferential treatment. Based on DeSantis’ reaction, it looks a lot more like the latter. Iger may not be able to undo this regardless of how obsequious he becomes to Florida’s legislature and DeSantis (and it’s a pretty safe bet that Iger’s capacity for scraping is likely low anyway).

Similarly, DeSantis and the legislature may have also painted themselves into a corner. The Reedy Creek District got established decades ago, which alleviated any political responsibility for its continued existence long ago. Having finally bit the bullet and repealed it, any move to re-establish it now would create those political hazards all over again — questions about kowtowing to corporate boards, criticisms over obliterating local control over resources, replacing self-governance at the local level with corporate diktat, and so on.

That may be even more risk in these populist times than otherwise would be the case. And with DeSantis “mulling” a run at the presidency on a populist-leaning platform, he can’t really afford to be seen as giving corporations taxpayer-funded goodies and power. At this point, the legislature would likely have to pass it over a veto … and why would they bother? Especially given that Iger’s regret seems a little threadbare at this stage.