On the eve of another Florida House hearing on the workings of Hope Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday accused House Republicans of working with the “liberal media” in a smear campaign against First Lady Casey DeSantis and the Hope Florida Foundation.
DeSantis unsolicited made the accusations during a Kissimmee press conference following a Miami Herald/ Tampa Bay Times story that the non-profit organization affiliated with Hope Florida paid $5 million a piece to two organizations that contributed to a political committee that worked to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana.
The $10 million payment to the two groups mirrors the amount the Hope Florida Foundation received from health care giant Centene as part of a settlement regarding overpayment of Medicaid pharmacy benefits and services.
“I got to tell you, I’m used to the baseless smears from liberal media. I’m used to the baseless smears from Democrats. I’ve been dealing with it for over six years. It’s par for the course. But I think now we have Republican leadership in the Florida House joining with liberal media and joining with Democrats to launch baseless smears against Hope Florida and by extension, myself and the First Lady,” DeSantis said.
Hope Florida was set up by Casey DeSantis as a state effort to work with the private sector and faith-based community to help people relying on government assistance transition — or as the DeSantis administration calls it, “graduate” — to self reliance.
The DeSantis administration claims 30,000 people have called the Hope Florida hotline for help in getting work and transitioning from government support. The foundation is a direct-support organization for the Department of Children and Families, one of the main agencies involved with Hope Florida.
Florida law requires agencies to notify the Legislature when they enter into settlement agreements, but that did not occur with the Centene agreement, which was signed by former AHCA Secretary Jason Weida (now Gov. DeSantis’ chief of staff), Chief Deputy Attorney General John Guard, Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworksy, Department of Health Chief of Staff Cassandra Pasley, and Centene Corp. Executive Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel Christopher A. Koster.
So, at a minimum, the DeSantis administration broke state law, said House Health Care Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Alex Andrade.
Medicaid, the safety net program for the poor, elderly, and disabled, is funded with state and federal dollars. Which could mean that a portion of the $67 million settlement should have been returned to the federal government if the money was related to a Medicaid overpayment.
This is the murky, corrupt, swamp behavior people hate about politics. This money belonged to the taxpayers of Florida, not to the DeSantis family. Floridians deserve to know that their tax dollars aren’t being moved around in a shell game to pay political consultants. – Rep. Fentrice Driskell
It is not clear that occurred.
“This is the murky, corrupt, swamp behavior people hate about politics. This money belonged to the taxpayers of Florida, not to the DeSantis family. Floridians deserve to know that their tax dollars aren’t being moved around in a shell game to pay political consultants,” Fentrice Driskell, the Democratic leader in the state House, said during a Monday morning press conference.
“No matter your politics, no one wants to see taxpayers dollars ending up in the coffers of a political party, or even the appearance of that happening. We need a full investigation, and I’m glad that the House is pursuing this. We need an accounting of all tax dollars involved here.”
Driskell added: “Now, it’s ironic for a governor who talks about Florida Doge to chase waste and fraud to be caught in the middle of a scandal involving defrauding and wasting taxpayer money. The Legislature deserves better answers than what we got in committee last week.”
Latest battle with the Legislature
House Republicans, too, have questioned the legality of steering money from the settlement with a Medicaid vendor to the Hope Florida Foundation.
On Tuesday, the House Health Care Budget Committee plans to hear testimony from several people regarding Hope Florida, including the head of the foundation.
Gov. DeSantis hotly objected to the House’s efforts.
“Let me tell you something, none of these Republican leaders got elected on the platform that they were going to launch baseless attacks against the governor and First Lady. That is not why they got elected. Had they run on that, they would have lost their primaries, they would never have been elected in the first place. No, they were elected to continue our success in Florida, to build off the great achievements of the last six years. “
This is the latest salvo in the fight between the governor and the Republican-controlled Legislature, a dispute that seemingly started with the governor’s call for a special session on immigration early this year but that has spun out from there to include disputes on government spending, automobile insurance, access to the courts, and tax policy. DeSantis has pushed the Legislature to eliminate property taxes for homeowners and to pass a proposed constitutional amendment for voters to consider doing that in 2026.
House Speaker Daniel Perez proposed to reduce the state’s sales tax instead, which, if passed, would take effect sooner. The governor countered with a proposal to provide $1,000 rebates to roughly 5.1 million property owners and called on the Legislature to act immediately. The governor’s rebate idea, however, has gotten no traction and does not appear to be under serious consideration.
DeSantis also wanted legislators to pass a bill that would permanently enshrine Hope Florida in the governor’s office. The bill has stalled in the House but is scheduled for its second Senate stop on Tuesday.
DeSantis said the House is working to sabotage his agenda.
“They were elected to cut property taxes, which they refused to do. They were elected to help alleviate and end the condo crisis, which the Florida House has refused to do. They were elected to continue our Florida First agenda.
“And what are they doing with their actions?” DeSantis asked. “Not only are they trying to sabotage that agenda, but they are stabbing the voters in the back with their behavior. Shame on you in the Florida House and your terrible behavior and leadership.”
Meanwhile, Attorney General James Uthmeier, formerly DeSantis’s chief of staff, played down any suggestion of wrongdoing during his own press conference Monday saying there’s “not a problem”
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
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