A.G. Gancarski
Florida’s Governor continues to fume about scrutiny of First Lady Casey DeSantis’ charity, Hope Florida, calling it a “manufactured fraud” and deeming a House subcommittee meeting on the subject a bust.
“I thought the whole thing yesterday was a total flop. I think that these are people that are … desperate for any type of attention that they can get, but they’re not doing the people’s business,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in Fort Myers.
The House Health Care Budget Subcommittee is scrutinizing a $10 million Medicaid settlement that ended up being slotted to Hope Florida, then passed on to a political committee chaired by Attorney General James Uthmeier that successfully worked against a citizen’s initiative to legalize pot.
DeSantis focused on the program’s stated goals rather than the nebulous legality of state funds being used for political committee messaging, framing the critiques as an attack on Casey DeSantis.
“Hope Florida has changed lives for the better. Hope Florida, because of the First Lady’s vision and leadership, has made a real difference in our communities. And there’s some people that are threatened by that. There’s some people that don’t like that,” the Governor said.
“Maybe it’s because it conflicts with their vision of government first. Maybe they just don’t like seeing other people have success in the political sphere. Maybe they have their own agenda or their own ax to grind. But I can tell you, the program has been fantastic.”
Republican Rep. Alex Andrade, who chairs the House panel probing the matter, intends to question Hope Florida attorney Jeff Aaron and threatened to subpoena records and communications between the Hope Florida Foundation and the Governor’s Office, including Uthmeier.
Andrade also believes a Special Master may be required, given that the scope of these questions is bigger than his subcommittee.
7 comments
Jerad T Anderson
April 16, 2025 at 11:50 am
HOW CAN 790.401 BE CONSTITUTIONAL? BECAUSE THE FL. CONSTITUTION’S PLAIN WORDS SAY THAT THE PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO “keep arms” 790.401 TO THE CONTRARY OF 790.173 LEGISLATURES INTENT?
PLEASE SEEK THIS ANSWER, INQUIRY MINDS WANT TO KNOW!
Shelia Clarke
April 16, 2025 at 12:08 pm
This is the tip of the iceberg. The contract Centene was awarded to case manage is the bigger scandal. I worked for Centene’s new contract. My success rate was 0.02%. Over 98% of my calls were unsuccessful. Centene is paid $407 per call. I had a caseload of 100 cases.
GeeWoo
April 16, 2025 at 12:23 pm
“citizen’s initiative”?!? No, it was a Big Pot initiative.
Along for the Ride
April 16, 2025 at 4:25 pm
No it was citizen lead and it would have won if it wasn’t for DeSantis
ScienceBLVR
April 16, 2025 at 12:27 pm
DeSantis following page 10K of Trump’s playbook, “The Art of the Steal”..
ScienceBLVR
April 16, 2025 at 12:30 pm
Sorry, wrong chapter- Page 10M of Trump’s playbook, “The Art of the Steal”..
SuzyQ
April 16, 2025 at 3:34 pm
Another manufactured controversy. Is just rumor that Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez is himself under investigation?