They took $10 million of taxpayer money — money which was supposed to provide health insurance for poor children — and put it into the bank account of a charitable foundation, where it stayed for just days before it was funneled into political action committees.
The prime recipient was a political action committee controlled by James Uthmeier — then chief of staff for Gov. Ron DeSantis and now the state attorney general.
The findings of a grand jury report are more complicated than that, but that pretty much sums it up — that the DeSantis administration "misappropriated" money as part of "a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities.” Taxpayer money that should have been helping children instead went io lobbyists, consultants, pollsters,
television ads and who knows what else.
If you’re looking for waste, fraud and abuse in Florida …
But pay no attention to this.
That’s basically what the governor and attorney general said after the scathing grand jury report, completed in January, was published online Wednesday by CBS News Miami.
DeSantis called the findings of misappropriation “a lie.” He said there was indeed a crime committed — by whoever leaked the report.
Meanwhile, Uthmeier called the investigation a “hoax” and told reporters at The Villages: “Nobody did anything wrong here. There was not even probable cause to move forward.”
Uthmeier is correct that the grand jury didn’t find sufficient evidence to move forward with criminal charges. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t find any wrongdoing.
To the contrary, the report said: “While we can’t prove who is responsible, we can plainly see that taxpayer money was misused for political purposes …”
The grand jury made it clear that one of the primary reasons that it didn’t find sufficient evidence of criminal wrongdoing was that “nobody will take responsibility” for deciding $10 million of taxpayer money would pass through Hope Florida Foundation — a non-profit organization created to support a community welfare and public assistance initiative championed by Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis — on its way to political action committees.
So, to recap, those involved say nobody did anything wrong. Also nobody involved will take responsibility for decisions that definitely didn’t lead to any wrongdoing. Also whoever leaked details of this non-wrongdoing should be arrested.
Follow the $10 million
Following the money gets a bit complicated. The short version of the saga starts with the state of Florida receiving more than $67 million in a settlement with Centene, the largest Medicaid managed care organization in the United States, for overbilling the state for prescription drugs under the Healthy Kids Program.
Other states also received settlements. But Florida altered its cut in a very unusual way — one that circumvented the state legislature's control of appropriations.
Instead of returning the entire $67 million to state coffers, the DeSantis administration said $5 million should go to the Hope Florida Foundation.
Just a day later, the state changed the agreement, saying Hope Florida should get $10 million.
Then-attorney general — and now U.S. senator — Ashley Moody signed off on an agreement that even in the moment she tried to distance herself from. And since the report has come out, she has said through a spokeperson that she didn’t have “knowledge of how the settlement would be used.”
How it was used is something.
On Oct. 4, 2024, Centene transferred the $10 million into the Hope Florida Foundation bank account and, as CBS Miami's Jim DeFede reported, “no one was more surprised than the chairman of the foundation at the time, Joshua Hay.”
Prior to this, the largest donation ever made to the foundation was $100,000. Then in one day it had $10 million. But not for long.
Hay was told to expect two grant proposals for $5 million. And within 25 days, all of that money was gone from Hope Florida's account, headed for political action committees, including one created to oppose a constitutional amendment about legalized marijuana.
Think about all of this. The grand jury did.
The report said: "The Florida Legislature should enact a law to prevent this situation from occurring. For example, a law that says any monies received by the state from any source must be deposited into the General Fund, and there should be real consequences for anyone violating this law."
The 10 million bucks stop ...
Follow the money and you find politics. Follow the responsibility and you find nobody.
Uthmeier calls this a “big nothingburger.”
Moody says any attempts to characterize her having knowledge of how the settlement money would be spent “are disingenuous.”
DeSantis says the settlement was “legally sound” and appropriate.
Fine. Then somebody should be able to explain the entire thing.
Why was the original settlement changed, with the $10 million peeled away?
Who made that change?
Why did it go to a nonprofit?
Why did that nonprofit immediately send the money to political action committees?
And why, after all of that, can nobody apparently take responsibility for the key decisions?
The 10 million bucks stop … where?
In the end, Hope Florida never benefitted from this. If anything, the saga harmed the non-profit and whatever political ambitions Casey DeSantis had. And while it’s hard to know exactly where all the money went, this much is clear: It didn’t go toward providing health care for kids in Florida, a state with one of the highest rates of uninsured children in the nation.
Even if this isn't criminally wrong, it sure isn't right.
Florida Times-Union columnist Mark Woods: mwoods@jacksonville.com and (904) 359-4212.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: In Hope Florida scandal, the 10 million bucks stop where? | Opinion
