A.G. Gancarski
As First Lady Casey DeSantis continues to draw scrutiny along with Hope Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is urging people to differentiate that program’s “smashing success” from the finances of the Hope Florida Foundation.
“I think what they’re doing with this Foundation is they’re trying to smear the program by implication and trying to smear the First Lady, which is totally unfair in terms of what they’re trying to do,” he said to WINK.
The is an ongoing probe of the $10 million directed to the Hope Florida Foundation in a Medicaid settlement. DeSantis has called that funding pot a “cherry on top” of the overall settlement payment, while Attorney General James Uthmeier dubbed it a “sweetener.”
The semantic argument is new and comes after legalistic justifications from the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and Uthmeier, who was the Governor’s longtime Chief of Staff before his appointment as AG.
AHCA General Counsel Andrew Sheeran wrote lawmakers, including Senate President Ben Albritton, House Speaker Daniel Perez and Rep. Alex Andrade, the Chair of the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee.
Sheeran differentiated between the $57.8 million in “potential Medicaid-related damages to the state” and the sum that went to the Hope Florida Foundation as a direct support organization (DSO). That money reportedly ended up being used to enrich political consultants and help program message advertising, a move Sheeran framed as “neither illegal nor illicit.”
“The remaining $10,800,000 component of the offer was not to compensate the State for loss of Medicaid funds, but rather ‘to provide reimbursement … for any other potentially alleged damages (contractual or otherwise) as a result of the alleged covered conduct and to otherwise incent (the State) to pursue settlement on these terms without doing formalized claims audits that would cause further delay and cost to the parties.’ The $10,000,000 donated to the DSO was therefore not Medicaid funds,” the lawyer wrote.
DeSantis cited the document during comments Wednesday in Fort Pierce.
“The agency puts out a document. It goes through the different agreement, the agreement they reached with the company was for about 56 million dollars to recoup for this PBM Medicaid thing. It’s there, it’s documented. And then they got a 10-million dollar private donation on top of that which is what the agency said from the beginning. And so this is an attempt to try to manufacture a narrative where there’s really nothing there,” he said.
Uthmeier has also urged a legalistic exoneration.
“I think the media misunderstands the difference between issue committees and political candidate committees under the IRS code,” he said. “An issue committee can fight against a ballot initiative and I’m very thankful those groups stepped up and helped us secure a big win.”
Uthmeier ran the issue committee that helped to deploy settlement funds that were routed through external political committees. Meanwhile, the Governor said critics are driven by personal animus against his wife.
DeSantis told WINK that the Foundation “acted totally appropriately” and that “people are doing this (probe of Hope Florida finances) … because they want to go after the First Lady, they want to try to demean the success of Hope Florida.”
12 comments
Michael K
April 23, 2025 at 8:52 am
A lie by any other name is still just a lie.
Foghorn Leghorn
April 23, 2025 at 8:54 am
Have to wonder if these activist judges would demand due process here or are they concerned only about illegal immigrants?
Bill
April 23, 2025 at 9:08 am
What activist judges? Have the desantii been charged with something or is this just a little red on red brawl. I’m not seeing anything about charges anywhere in this article just a vague mention of ‘they’ whoever they might be.
MH/Duuuval
April 23, 2025 at 9:15 am
I M Peachy in their many poses only supports an active judiciary when it is undercutting representative government.
Ocean Joe
April 23, 2025 at 10:33 am
More pay to play. Like that interchange on I-95 built to favor a donor, it’s just business as usual in Florida. Or the golf courses and hotels that might have been built on our state parks but got scuttled.
SuzyQ
April 23, 2025 at 11:54 am
Another smear campaign and fake controversy manufactured for political purposes by the likes of Trump’s Roger Stone, looney Laura Loomer, ambitiously ruthless and morally corrupt Matt Gaetz and Trump’s Roger Stone’s ‘close, longtime personal friend” – the re-elected chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party.
SuzyQ
April 23, 2025 at 12:55 pm
Another fake controversy manufactured for political purposes, this time by collusion between the “longtime, close personal” friendship between Trump’s Roger Stone and the chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, Nikki Fried.
ScienceBLVR
April 23, 2025 at 2:45 pm
“I think what they’re doing with this Foundation is they’re trying to smear the program by implication and trying to smear the First Lady, which is totally unfair in terms of what they’re trying to do,” he said
I call big time baloney on that one.. going after the “First Lady”? Ok, maybe a small shadier element generated by Byron’s fans, but to me and most, it’s about dollars meant to provide health care to poor folks being funneled through a “Charity” to be used to thwart the will of the people. Quack quack DeSantis Duck that’s all you got, apparently.
Frankie M
April 23, 2025 at 3:31 pm
Spoken like a true lawyer…hiding behind semantics.
Positive mike
April 23, 2025 at 4:19 pm
A lie that’s not going to work because its….a lie. It’s a lie that’s seeking to change the conversation to then hope it all goes away. But sir, we’re not quite that stupid and gullable anymore. You are now known as lying RD.
Along for the Ride
April 23, 2025 at 5:27 pm
Um it sounds and looks like money laundering of $10million in tax payer money.
Along for the Ride
April 23, 2025 at 5:28 pm
Also, Hope Florida and the Hope Florida Foundation are the same thing. Good try DeSantis
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