TALHASSEE — weeks after the DeSantis administration led $10 million from a Medicaid settlement to a first lady-led charity, the Hope Florida Foundation sent $5 million to two separate organizations that gave millions to political committees hosting anti-marijuana campaigns defended by the governor.
The payments laid out in campaign finance records and documents released by the foundation on Friday to Times/Herald raise questions about whether the Desantis administration has diverted the Medicaid dollar into a political campaign through Casey Desantis’ key initiatives.
The $10 million, which comes from a settlement with the Center, the state’s largest Medicaid contractor, is run by the Florida Chamber of Commerce and has been split evenly into a safe Florida future to save our society from drugs, a drug prevention nonprofit.
The committee sent $8.5 million that October to maintain a political committee ruled by James Usmierer, then head of staff at Ron DeSantis. The committee was created to break Amendment 3, a failed voting initiative that attempted to legalize recreational marijuana.
The settlement with the Center — a Florida Republican said it could have been illegal — was signed on September 27th. According to lawyers representing the charity, $5 million payments from the foundation to those organizations were made in the same month.
Campaign finance records show that between October and December, Florida Clean will divert $10.5 million to the Florida Republican. This opposed amendment 3. Another $1.1 million was handed over by the committee to the Florida Freedom Fund. Uthmeier is also the chairman of the Florida Freedom Fund.
Of the $10 million centney paid to the Florida Foundation’s wishes, it is not clear that they have reached a bank account with either the Florida Republican or the Florida Freedom Fund. If not impossible, it is difficult to track how dollars are spent as they move between political committees.
The flow of money from charities to big dollar contributors to governor’s political causes has already sparked debate at the Florida State Capitol.
Republicans said the administration may have broken the law by guiding millions of dollars from Centerne to the Florida Foundation’s wishes. The company consulted with healthcare management agencies after overpayment of Medicaid services.
Desantis said Thursday that the $67 million settlement was sent to the charity was “100% appropriate” and was part of the “big thing” the state negotiated with the Center.
State Rep. Alex Andrade, a Pensacola Republican who is considering funding and running Hope Florida and its charity, said in a statement Friday that the $10 million use would “seem like criminal fraud by some of the people involved.”
“The questions I have now are what Governor Desantis knew, what James Uthmeier knew, and who thought this was legal, moral or ethical?” he said.
The Florida Republican wrote to the DeSantis administration on Friday, demanding text messages and other records, and other records on programs in various states, including Hope Florida and its foundation.
Speaking to Rep. Matt Gaetz’s show on Friday night, speaker Daniel Perez said “drills continue.” The Foundation does not carry over records of its structure, ethics or surveillance, or documents required under state law.
“I think people are interested in finding out where the money went, how they got there, why they got there, how they were spent,” Perez said.
Jeff Aaron, who became a lawyer for the Hope Florida Foundation this month, said the money paid to the foundation by St. Nay has not been sent to the political committee.
“I’m sure nothing is illegal and not a political organization,” he said of the future of safe Florida, an organization overseen by the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
A spokesman for Desantis introduced his comments to his political committee. A spokesman for the Florida Freedom Fund for Desantis said it was “absolutely false” that any of the $10 million fell into an effort to fight the governor’s political committee or Amendment 3.
A Centene spokesperson said the company was “not involved in any decisions made by the Hope Florida Foundation regarding the subsequent use of the foundation fund.” The spokesman said the donations to the foundation were directed by the healthcare management agency and approved by the Attorney General’s Office.
A spokesman for Uthemeier, whose Desantis appointed Attorney General this year, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hope Florida is a First Ladies Signature initiative aimed at banishing Floridians, including Medicaid, from government support by linking government benefits with churches and nonprofits. The Hope Florida Foundation is a charity created to financially support the children and families departments in implementing the program.
After submitting a grant proposal, the foundation sent a $5 million payment to two Dark Money 501(c)(4) organizations. The proposals made by Aaron do not detail how the money will be spent.
“These funds will help us develop and implement strategies that directly address the substance use crisis facing our community,” Amy Ronshausen, executive director of Save Our Society, wrote in the Oct. 18 grant proposal. The organization’s board chair did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mark Wilson, CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and its political committee, wrote in a proposal for the grant on October 13th that “stimulates awareness of Florida’s hopeful efforts to use this money-centric approach and employ business community partners to promote this necessary cause.”
A spokesman for the Chamber of Commerce did not address whether the money received from the Florida Foundation was sent to keep Florida clean.
“The grants we received from the Florida Foundation Hope already make Florida better, safer, more prosperous and has a will for years to come,” Wilson said in a statement.
If money is a political cause, contributions could put the hopes of the Florida Foundation’s nonprofit at risk.
Nine years ago, when Donald Trump paid the IRS a $2,500 penalty nine years ago to reimburse the $25,000 he gave Pam Bondi’s reelection campaign for Florida Lawyer General, the ban on nonprofit political contributions received widespread attention.
Charities such as the Hope Florida Foundation can make political contributions to combat voting initiatives, but they cannot become a “substantial part” of the charity’s “activities.”
If a charity violates these rules, it could “lose” tax-free status, Port said.
