‘Baseless attacks … manufactured smears’: Gov. DeSantis still on defense in Hope Florida scandal

Gov. Ron DeSantis took the occasion of a highway infrastructure press conference to rhetorically drive a car over new enemies in the House.

Speaking in Kissimmee, DeSantis denounced “a lot of baseless attacks” and “manufactured smears against the First Lady and the program that’s Hope Florida.”

Hope Florida, the signature program of Casey DeSantis, has been under fire in recent days amid a controversial slotting of $10 million in a settlement from Centene with Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) to the charity.

The Governor continues to insist there is no controversy and that the matter is manufactured by his political enemies in the GOP, who are working in league with so-called “liberal media” and “stabbing the voters in the back” as a result.

“Shame on you in the Florida House and your terrible behavior in leadership,” DeSantis said, referring to House Speaker Daniel Perez, a Miami Republican with whom DeSantis has been feuding since at least January.

Perez closed out last week speaking of “frustration” with DeSantis and the executive branch, decrying “$10 million that should have gone back to the State Treasury in a settlement agreement between Centene and AHCA,” but “instead it went to Hope Florida and it did so in the dark of night.”

DeSantis previously called the $10 million to Hope Florida the “cherry on top” and a “voluntary contribution” as part of the $67 million settlement agreement as he dismissed concerns as “drivel” and “political nonsense.”

Perez and the House Republican caucus see it differently.

The Speaker said Friday that subpoenas were on the table if principals did not appear voluntarily in front of the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee this week.

Additional reporting found that $8.5 million of the money allegedly was moved and programmed to mobilize against constitutional amendments through former DeSantis Chief of Staff and current Attorney General James Uthmeier’s “Keep Florida Clean” political committee. Much of it came via the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s “Secure Florida’s Future” account.

Speaking of Uthmeier, he said Hope Florida “made its own decision to give generous support to other not-for-profits,” with “some of the organizations already involved in the fight” to keep marijuana illegal for recreational use.

“Hope Florida didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.