The bomb reports from The Times/Herald Tallahassee Department are shaking the political grounds of our state. If they had just caught up, Medicaid contractors made a $10 million charitable donation as part of an over-settlement. Contractors were overcharged, caught and had to find the right organization to return money to people.
Red Cross? United Way? Moffit? no. Put $10 million in Casey Desantis’ hands.
The Hope Florida Foundation, a nonprofit started by the First Lady of Sunshine, aimed to “help Floridians quit government aid” (in a good way). What’s wrong with the charity overseen by the most powerful family in Florida’s politics? After all, their noble cause has money from energy companies, lobbyists and government contractors. There’s no conflict of interest there.
The optics, which had $10 million in public funds flowing through a charity overseen by the governor’s wife, did not look good. But the real problem was where money went next.
After splitting $10 million between two “dark money” interest groups, it was later poured into political committees, including Keep Florida Clean, a committee managed by the governor’s former chiefs of staff, to beat the marijuana voting initiative in November. The forwarding raises doubts about whether the DeSantis administration diverted the Medicaid dollar into a political campaign through Hope Florida.
If this smells funny, you have a good nose like our journalist. Republicans in Florida home sniff around too.
State Rep. Alex Andrade, a Pensacola Republican, said this “seems like a criminal fraud by some of the people involved.”
“I think people are interested in finding out where the money went, how they got there, why they got there, how they got there, how they were used,” said House Speaker Daniel Perez, a Republican from Miami.
Certainly, Floridians deserve to know.
As state representatives begin their investigation, it is helpful to remember great journalists like Lawrence Moore and Alexandra Glorioso and the roles they played in unraveling these facts. They requested public tax returns, board minutes and bylaws, many of which were incomplete or lacking.
For too long, the state that once led the state to government transparency has been reversed. Glacier responses to record requests have become commonplace, with previously available records being cited as “executive privileges.” Secret Creep has created more than 200 exemptions for state sunlight laws.
Our Public Records and Public Meeting Act was first approved in 1909 and expanded in 1967.
Unfortunately, too many office holders find ways to hide their work. To access 60,000 Ministry of Health Covid-19 records, the public has ruled in court. Both judges and lawyers have released details of how taxpayer money was spent on immigrant relocation to intervene in the Florida Department of Transport and the Governor’s Office of Enforcement. Earlier this year, Hillsboro County Commissioner Donna Cameron Cepeda suggested that the Sunshine Act should not be applied to the committee’s work as committee members may deal with “confidential information.”
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An open government does not only benefit people, but it should be justification for everything that is needed. It also benefits politicians who are trying to hold other officials accountable, like the star’s declining governor. Ambitious Republicans can thank our laws and hardworking journalists for illuminating these dark deals.
This issue deserves to be fully aired. Let’s keep doors and windows open throughout the Florida government while we work on it.
