The chairman of a foundation tied to Hope Florida — First Lady Casey DeSantis’ signature welfare-assistance program — said under oath Tuesday that “mistakes were made” with the foundation’s record-keeping, as a skirmish over the group’s finances continued to escalate.
Republican lawmakers continue to raise questions over millions of dollars donated to a nonprofit founded by Florida's First Lady Casey DeSantis.
The allegations are that taxpayer dollars were used for political ads against the legalization of marijuana.
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WATCH HEREWhat is Hope Florida?
Hope Florida is a welfare-assistance program that's spearheaded by Casey DeSantis.
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According to its website, Hope Florida "serves as a connection point for community collaboration between the public and private sector, faith-based communities, and nonprofits."
So-called "Hope Navigators" are "experts work hand-in-hand with individuals to identify their unique barriers to prosperity and engage all sectors of the community to be a crucial part of the solution."
According to an opinion piece written by Casey DeSantis and published in the Wall Street Journal, "Florida helps, then gets out of the way."
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What is the controversy surrounding Hope Florida?
There is now a probe into the nonprofit’s receipt of $10 million as part of a Medicaid managed-care company’s $67 million settlement with the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
After receiving the money from Centene — the state’s largest Medicaid managed-care provider — last fall, the foundation made $5 million grants each to Secure Florida’s Future, a nonprofit organization linked to the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and Save Our Society from Drugs.
The groups received the grants while they were making contributions to Keep Florida Clean, a political committee headed by James Uthmeier, who was then Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief of staff and is now state attorney general. Keep Florida Clean fought a proposed constitutional amendment in November that would have allowed recreational use of marijuana.
House Health Care Budget Chairman Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, accused Uthmeier of funneling the money from the Medicaid settlement through the foundation to help pay for the effort to defeat the proposed constitutional amendment, known as Amendment 3. Andrade said Uthmeier’s actions may have been illegal.
How has Gov. DeSantis reacted?
As Andrade grilled the chairman of Hope Florida, Joshua Hay, at a House meeting on Tuesday, the governor and first lady held a lengthy appearance in Andrade’s hometown to announce that Hope Florida — a program that operates in numerous state agencies — was expanding to include liaisons at state colleges.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, echoing comments he’s made since the probe began, blasted the House and suggested the inquiry was intended to derail a possible gubernatorial run by his wife.
"This is a manufactured hoax, and you have liberal media and liberal Democrats pushing this,” the governor said during an event at Pensacola State College.
