DeSantises doubles down on Hope Florida, as SAO opens invesitigation

Gov. Ron DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis held their second press event in seven days to once again tout Hope Florida, without offering any explanation of why a $10-million Medicaid settlement given to Hope Florida Foundation wasn’t used to help families or how $8.5 million of it ended up with a political committee run by the governor’s chief of staff.

The format was very similar to the roundtable held last Wednesday. Gov. DeSantis spoke for about 20 minutes, giving a litany of his successes, which again included being #1 in higher education. Since he and the First Lady have been criticized for using stale, outdated facts, they offered new ones:

• Over 500 employers are offering job opportunities through the Hope Florida Initiative
• All 21 local workforce boards now have Hope Florida liaisons dedicated to helping participants find work
• Over 3,000 Hope Florida participants have secured employment, with 87% achieving a wage increase after six months.

Commerce Secretary Alex Kelly added:

• The CareerSource Florida Network has served almost 4,000 Floridians who were referred from Hope Navigators, providing over 60,000 services to those Hope participants, including over 5,000 job referrals.

First Lady Casey DeSantis made a similar emotional appeal for Hope Florida that she did last month at Pensacola State College and in Brandon on May 14. The initiative represents a “rewiring” of how government operates by integrating faith-based communities. Hope Florida focuses on both immediate needs and long-term self-sufficiency.

“This is not about politics,” she said. “This is about doing good on behalf of the people who deserve a chance for someone to fight for them.”

The First Lady added, “And so, I’ll just say, no matter what, we’re just going to double down on hope and we’re going to continue to do good on behalf of the people of this state.

The $10-million Controversy

Why did the DeSantises do another press event? Hope Florida’s reputation has been damaged by allegations that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration improperly channeled $10 million from a Medicaid settlement through the Hope Florida Foundation to political committees.

• State Representative Alex Andrade, who led a legislative inquiry into the program, claims that DeSantis’s former chief of staff directed two organizations to request $5 million grants from the Foundation, which then allegedly funneled at least $8.5 million to a political committee opposing marijuana legalization.

Last week, Gov. DeSantis defended the actions, characterizing the criticism as politically motivated and potentially aimed at his wife, though he noted she wasn’t involved in the Agency for Health Care Administration settlement. He emphasized that the Hope Florida Foundation operates independently from the state with its own board and application process, maintaining a “99% grant rate” with minimal overhead. DeSantis also clarified that the funds came from “a private settlement” rather than Medicaid funds, dismissing the allegations as “intentionally fraudulent and contrived.”

Investigation?

The Tampa Times/Miami Herald cleverly used a public records request to discover that State Attorney Jack Campbell is investigating the Hope Florida Foundation.

• The newspapers submitted a public records request to Leon County prosecutors for Hope Florida Foundation-related records that Rep. Alex Andrade had provided to State Attorney Campbell. In response, the records custodian for Campbell stated that the information couldn’t be released because it was “part of an open, on-going investigation.”

This response from the State Attorney’s office served as the first official confirmation of any law enforcement investigation related to the foundation.

Today, during the 10-minute Q&A, a reporter asked for the governor’s comment on the investigation.