Large marijuana grow operation – Courtesy: Shutterstock – Image by Canna Obscura
The Hope Florida Foundation reversed course and donated $5 million each to groups that donated millions to a political committee that supported the governor’s anti-marijuana campaign, just weeks after the DeSantis administration diverted $10 million from a legal Medicaid settlement to a charity led by the first lady.
The payments, which are detailed in campaign finance records and documents the foundation made available to the Herald/Times on Friday, raise concerns about whether the DeSantis administration diverted Medicaid funds to a political campaign through Casey DeSantis’s major endeavor.
The Florida Chamber of Commerce’s Secure Florida’s Future and the drug-prevention non-profit Save Our Society from Drugs received an equal share of the $10 million that came from a settlement with Centene, the state’s biggest Medicaid contractor.
Together, the committees donated $8.5 million to Keep Florida Clean, a political organization run by James Uthmeier, Ron DeSantis’s chief of staff at the time. The committee was established in order to fight Amendment 3, the unsuccessful ballot measure that attempted to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
The September settlement with Centene may have been unlawful, according to several Florida Republicans. On October 13 and October 18, respectively, the grants for Save Our Society from Drugs and Secure Florida’s Future were delivered to the Hope Florida Foundation. According to a lawyer for the charity, the foundation paid the organizations $5 million in the same month.
According to campaign finance records, the Republican Party of Florida, which ran an anti-Amendment 3 campaign, received $10.5 million from Keep Florida Clean between October and December. The committee also donated an additional $1.1 million to Ron DeSantis’ Florida Freedom Fund.
How much of the $10 million Centene gave to the Hope Florida Foundation ended up in the Florida Freedom Fund’s or the Republican Party of Florida’s bank accounts is unknown.
The transfer of funds from a first lady-supervised charity to wealthy donors to the governor’s political campaigns is already raising fresh concerns in Florida’s Capitol, where House Republicans are investigating the DeSantis administration’s use of public funds.
After Centene came into negotiations with the Agency for Health Care Administration after being overpaid $67 million for Medicaid services, Republicans have already suggested that the administration may have violated the law by diverting millions of dollars to the Hope Florida Foundation. According to the governor and his top staff, the settlement was completely lawful.
The spending of the $10 million “looks like criminal fraud by some of those involved,” according to a statement from Pensacola Republican State Representative Alex Andrade, who has been investigating the financing and activities of Hope Florida and its nonprofit.
“I now wonder what Governor DeSantis and James Uthmeier knew, and who in the world believed this to be morally, legally, or ethically acceptable,” he said.
According to Jeff Aaron, who joined the Hope Florida organization’s legal team last month, Centene did not transfer the funds it provided to the organization to political committees.
Regarding Secure Florida’s Future, the group governed by the Florida Chamber of Commerce, he stated, “I am still convinced that nothing was unlawful and it is not a political organization.”
DeSantis’s political committee was contacted for comment by a representative. The claim that any of the funds from the settlement with Centene that went to the Hope Florida Foundation ended up in the governor’s political committee or the campaign against Amendment 3 was “completely untrue,” according to a representative for DeSantis’ Florida Freedom Fund.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by a representative for Uthemeier, who was named attorney general by DeSantis this year.
The first lady’s signature political project, Hope Florida, links government benefit recipients with organizations and churches in an effort to wean Floridians off of government support, particularly Medicaid. A nonprofit organization called the Hope Florida Foundation was established to provide funding to the Department of Children and Families so that it could implement the program.
After the two dark-money 501(c)(4) organizations submitted grant bids, the foundation paid them $5 million. Aaron provided the suggestions, but they don’t specify how the funds would be used.In the grant proposal submitted on October 18, Amy Ronshausen, executive director of Save Our Society From Drugs, stated that the money will be crucial in creating and executing plans that specifically tackle the drug abuse epidemic that affects our communities.
A request for response was not immediately answered by the chairperson of the organization’s board. The funds will “raise awareness of Hope Florida’s efforts within the private sector utilizing a data-centric approach and to recruit business community partners to advance this necessary cause,” according to a grant proposal submitted on October 13 by Mark Wilson, CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and its political committee.
Whether the funds from the Hope Florida Foundation were transferred to Keep Florida Clean was not addressed by a Chamber representative.
“Florida is already better, safer, and more prosperous thanks to the grant from the Hope Florida Foundation, and it will continue to do so for years to come,” Wilson said in a statement.
The Hope Florida Foundation’s nonprofit status might be in danger if the donations actually support political causes.
According to Shanna Ports, senior legal counsel at the campaign finance watchdog Campaign Legal Center, a charity like the Hope Florida Foundation may contribute politically to oppose a ballot initiative, but this cannot constitute a “substantial part” of the charity’s “activity.”
According to Ports, the organization “may lose” its tax-exempt status if it breaks such regulations.
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Chris began his writing as a hobby while attending Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. Today he and his wife live in the Orlando area with their three children and dog.
