Tampa Bay times Report say records reveal..
Weeks after the DeSantis administration steered $10 million from a Medicaid settlement to a charity spearheaded by the first lady, the Hope Florida Foundation sent $5 million apiece to two separate organizations that gave millions to a political committee waging an anti-marijuana campaign championed by the governor.
The payments, laid out in campaign finance records and documents released to the Times/Herald by the foundation on Friday, raise questions about whether the DeSantis administration diverted Medicaid dollars through Casey DeSantis’ key initiative to a political campaign.
The $10 million — deriving from a settlement with Centene, the state’s largest Medicaid contractor — was split evenly between Secure Florida’s Future, run by the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and Save Our Society from Drugs, a drug-prevention nonprofit.
The committees sent $8.5 million that October to Keep Florida Clean, a political committee controlled by Ron DeSantis’ then-chief of staff, James Uthmeier. The committee was created to defeat Amendment 3, the failed ballot initiative that tried to legalize recreational marijuana.
The settlement with Centene — which some Florida Republicans have said may have been illegal — was signed Sept. 27. The grant proposals from Secure Florida’s Future and Save Our Society from Drugs were submitted to the Hope Florida Foundation on Oct. 13 and Oct. 18, respectively. The $5 million payments from the foundation to those organizations were made that same month, according to an attorney representing the charity.
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