The state’s new attorney general may have engaged in criminal conduct in organizing the transfer of legal settlement money through the Hope Florida Foundation to campaign against a marijuana legalization initiative, a key Republican House member said Tuesday.
“Given Mr. [James] Uthmeier’s involvement in the settlement and then the transfer to Hope Florida and the soliciting these grant proposals and then immediately receiving that to his PAC, yeah,” Andrade told reporters after the meeting when asked whether the transactions might be criminal.
“That’s very much what it looks like. But again, I’m not a prosecutor,” Andrade said.
Andrade, who is an attorney, told reporters following a lengthy meeting of the House Health Care Budget Committee, which he chairs, that while he plans on calling a spate of others to testify before the committee next week, the job may be getting too large for his budget subcommittee to handle.
Indeed, Andrade on social media pushed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office to investigate the transfer of the funds. Medicaid is a health care safety net program for the poor elderly and disabled that is funded with both state and federal dollars.
“I don’t want to guess whether or not she will or not,” he said about Bondi’s potential involvement. “At this point, though, given what we keep turning over and finding out every time I flip over a rock and find something new, this feels way bigger than a subcommittee.”
Tuesday’s House hearing represented an almost unthinkable moment, another escalation of a feud between the governor and House Republicans. It occurred as DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis, who initiated Hope Florida in 2021, held a press conference in Pensacola, in Andrade’s House district, where the governor railed against House Republicans and said they were pushing a “hoax” with Democrats and the “liberal media.”
DeSantis suggested that the First Lady, widely thought to be considering a gubernatorial run in 2026, was being targeted because of her strength as a candidate.
“And look, some people feel threatened by the First Lady, let’s be clear about that. You saw her up here. If you are looking at 2026, and you’ve got some horse, you don’t want her anywhere near that. You are very worried, because she runs circles around their people. Everybody knows that,” DeSantis said.
Andrade, though, denied that was the case.
“I never mentioned Casey in any of this. I mean, you know, if I was in town I would have gone to it, although it sounds as if I wasn’t invited,” Andrade said. “You know, I hope you had a fun time in my district. I’m really proud to represent it.”
Money transfer
The question is how a $10 million payment from a state-contracted Medicaid managed care plan wound up in the hands of two groups that turned around and gave money to the group battling last year’s marijuana amendment.
The DeSantis administration organized opposition to that and the abortion-rights amendment using state resources. Both proposals were broadly popular but fell narrowly short of the requited 60% approval rate.
DeSantis’ anti-pot committee, Keep Florida Clean, was run by Uthmeier, then DeSantis’ chief of staff, whom the governor subsequently appointed state attorney general following Ashley Moody’s departure for the U.S. Senate.
The $10 million payment to the Hope Florida Foundation was part of a larger $67 million settlement the state reached with the giant contractor Centene stemming from Medicaid overpayments involving the delivery of pharmacy benefits and services. Uthmeir was a signatory to the settlement agreement.
Meet the players
The committee met for more than three hours, questioning Joshua Hay, president of the Hope Florida Foundation; Department of Children and Families Secretary Taylor Hatch; and Erik Dellenback, who serves as the Governor’s Liaison for Faith & Community and executive director of Hope Florida in the Executive Office of the Governor.
Hope Florida, according to its website, is a government initiative that serves as a connection point between the public and private sector, faith-based communities, and nonprofits. Hope “navigators” work at agencies across state government with people seeking assistance in transitioning from government benefits to economic self-sufficiency.
The Hope Florida Foundation is the not-for-profit direct-support organization that assists the Department of Children and Families with Hope Florida.
The foundation has failed to submit an annual audit to the state’s auditor general, has no code of ethics for its members to follow, and has failed to file tax returns.
This feels way bigger than a subcommittee. – Rep. Alex Andrade
Hay, whose position with the foundation is voluntary, was sworn in before testifying. Andrade explained that Hatch and Dellenback weren’t sworn in because they are state employees and thus are expected to provide truthful testimony.
In addition to serving as the Hope Florida Foundation chair, Hay is the founder of the management consulting firm Indelible Solutions, which he testified operates in 23 states and has millions of dollars in contracts with the state of Florida.
Hay, joined by his legal counsel, Mark Herron, said the foundation board of directors plans a meeting Thursday and will address the delinquent paperwork.
He testified that he’s been working for about a month with Tallahassee attorney Mohammad Jazil, who frequently represents the state in lawsuits and advises Keep Florida Clean, and who is advising Hope Florida on the requisite paperwork.
Hay said that attorney Jeff Aaron advised him to work with Jazil on the paperwork. Aaron is a Republican attorney who successfully defended the governor in the lawsuit filed by suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren.
The testimony didn’t sit well with Andrade.
“Jeff Aaron connected you with Mohammad Jazil, the attorney for Keep Florida Clean, to help Hope Florida’s foundation in complying with the paperwork, to retroactively justify this payment. Is that what I am hearing right now? Members, I am sorry, I am a little flabbergasted at this revelation.”
Hay also testified that the Hope Florida Foundation generally awards grants to individuals and organizations in the $1,500 to $2,500 range. It made two $5 million payments to Secure Florida’s Future and Save Our Society from Drugs.
Hay acknowledged that those payments were made without approval by the board of directors.
Trickle down effects
Although the upper chamber has stayed out of the House’s probe into Hope Florida, the developments led Senate President Ben Albritton on Tuesday to “take a pause at this point” on a bill cementing the program in the governor’s office, said Katherine Betta, a spokesperson for Albritton.
“State government should be about continuous improvement. When things are not as transparent as we would like, or as they should be, we should not throw the baby out with the bathwater, but we should improve and look for opportunities to do better moving forward,” Albritton said in a prepared statement.
Still, scrutiny over Hope Florida seeped into a meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government Tuesday.
Democratic and Republican senators raised concerns over SB 820, which would formalize in statute the Office of Faith and Community, because of Dellenback’s leadership positions in both the faith office and Hope Florida.
“I don’t dislike it enough to vote no on it, but I am very concerned. I think we need to think carefully now that more information has come forward in this own committee meeting,” Winter Haven Republican Sen. Colleen Burton said. “I think we need to be very, very careful that if we do enshrine this in statute, that this office stands on its own two feet, that it’s not associated with other organizations.”
Filed by Jacksonville Republican Sen. Clay Yarborough, the bill passed with three “no” votes, all cast by Democrats, and advanced to its final committee stop. The House companion, HB 293, is awaiting its final committee hearing.
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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