A reporter’s question went unanswered.
Gov. Ron DeSantis[1] wasn’t reluctant to discuss education issues[2] in Tampa Wednesday, but he was much more reticent on the ongoing Hope Florida[3] Foundation imbroglio.
“I’m not going to comment,” he said at the University of South Florida[4]. The response came after a reporter asked DeSantis if he had comment about a grand jury meeting in Tallahassee this month to probe the use of $10 million donated to the foundation from a Medicaid settlement to the state.
The $10 million came from Centene to Hope Florida as part of a $67 million settlement for the company overbilling Medicaid.
From there, two political action committees (Secure Florida’s Future and Save Our Society from Drugs) requested $5 million each from the Hope Florida Foundation.
Money to Secure Florida’s Future was earmarked explicitly for a “long-term, targeted business partner recruitment strategy and public awareness campaign.”
The funds to Save Our Society from Drugs were intended for “developing and implementing strategies that directly address the substance use crisis facing our communities.”
DeSantis previously called that funding pot a “cherry on top[5]” of the overall settlement payment, and suggested[6] that critics of the money transfer were “trying to smear the program by implication and trying to smear the First Lady.”
He also defended the use of the “$10 million private donation” as “an attempt to try to manufacture a narrative where there’s really nothing there.”
Yet subpoenas[7] went out to members of the Governor’s staff.
Former acting Attorney General John Guard and his longtime staffer, Kate Strickland[8], received subpoenas. James Holton, the former Chair of St. Petersburg-based Save Our Society from Drugs, one of the nonprofits that received millions from the Hope Florida Foundation, also was subpoenaed, according to an associate of Holton.
Hope Florida has been the subject of increasing scrutiny. Leaders of the organization faced lawmakers’ questions during the last Legislative Session.
Leon County prosecutors confirmed in May there was an open criminal investigation into the Hope Florida Foundation, according to media reports[9].
References
- ^ Ron DeSantis (rondesantis.com)
- ^ education issues (rumble.com)
- ^ Hope Florida (hopeflorida.com)
- ^ University of South Florida (usf.edu)
- ^ cherry on top (floridapolitics.com)
- ^ suggested (floridapolitics.com)
- ^ subpoenas (floridapolitics.com)
- ^ longtime staffer, Kate Strickland (floridapolitics.com)
- ^ according to media reports (floridapolitics.com)