Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) mounted a vigorous defense of his wife as she faces scrutiny over whether her nonprofit group illegally funneled taxpayer funding toward political causes.
Florida first lady Casey DeSantis’s Hope Florida is an organization that helps residents get off welfare by connecting them with nonprofit groups and faith-based services. Lawmakers, led by state House Speaker Danny Perez, who has clashed with the governor before, are investigating accusations that the first lady’s organization let state funds be used to fight Florida’s marijuana legalization amendment.
During a press conference Monday in Kissimmee, the governor forcefully condemned Perez, defending Hope Florida and his wife from “baseless attacks.”
“I do think it’s really sad to see manufactured smears against the first lady and the program that’s Hope Florida,” he said. “Hope Florida is actually an example of government succeeding and lifting people up. … Since this has been implemented, we’ve gotten 30,000 people off welfare and saved the state of Florida $100 million. So that’s a great success story that threatens some people.”
“I think now we have Republican leadership in the Florida House joining with liberal media and joining with Democrats to launch baseless smears against Hope Florida and, by extension, myself and the first lady,” DeSantis continued. “They are stabbing the voters in the back with their behavior. Shame on you in the Florida House and your terrible behavior in leadership.”
On Tuesday morning, the state’s House Health Care Budget Subcommittee is holding a hearing examining accusations that the DeSantis administration steered millions from a Medicaid settlement to the Hope Florida Foundation, which then found its way into funding the political effort to defeat the state’s marijuana legalization amendment.
The DeSantis administration’s Agency for Health Care Administration, led by Secretary Shevaun Harris, has denied that the $10 million given to Hope Florida was taxpayer funding. Shortly after it received the funds, the Hope Florida Foundation sent roughly $5 million apiece to two nonprofit organizations. Around the same time, those two organizations, Secure Florida’s Future and Save our Society from Drugs, in turn, donated about $8.5 million to a third not-for-profit organization that was created to defeat a ballot initiative aimed at legalizing recreational marijuana, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
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Perez has defended scrutiny of the first lady’s organization as measures to “seek transparency” and “answers” about the Medicaid settlement.
“No one is denying that there has been good work and that people have been helped,” the House speaker said earlier this month. “There are further questions we have to ask. … How was the money received? Where did it go? How was it used, and why? … We should be able to hold them accountable.”
