What is Hope Florida and is there a scandal about the charity organization of Casey Desantis?

A program led by Florida First Lady Casey Desantis will continue to be checked by Democrats and Republicans for a “donation” of US dollars.

According to state law, money from settlements must be initiated into the general Revenue find of the state and the legislation of the legislation on supervision must be reported. The 10 million US dollars, which were part of a legal agreement between AHCA and Centene, were not in the amount of US dollars of 67 million.

Instead, the Miami Herald reported that “Hope Florida Foundation has turned and organizations, which in turn carried out millions of an anti-Marihuana change campaign by the governor”, gave a piece of $ 5 million.

The use of the 10 million US dollars “looks like a criminal fraud of some of those involved,” said the Republican representative Alex Andrade, one of the main critics of Desantis, the newspaper. “… (W) HO on earth thought that this was legal, moral or ethical?”

Political analysts believe that this could undermine Casey Desantis's potential offer for governor in 2026. Reports claim that the former journalist wants to follow her husband Governor Ron Desantis.

Here is what you know about Hope Florida and the controversy about the foundation.

What is hope Florida? How is charity financed?

Hope Florida started by Casey Desantis in 2021. Floridians are supposed to help withdraw state support by combining them with a clearinghouse of other services from non -profit and smooth -based communities.

According to his website, Hope Florida is financed by donations from individuals and private companies and offers financial services for local non -profit organizations.

Hope Florida “Navigators” are a national who work with people to find solutions from the private sector, the faith communities and non -profit organizations that help them use all available local community resources and reduce the need to help the government.

According to Desantis, Florida's goal is to help and then stay “out of the way”.

A website says that Hope Florida has looked after more than 100,000 Floridians since the beginning, in particular more than 25,500 participants “reducing or eliminating the dependency on public support”.

Is the Hope Florida Foundation the same as Hope Florida?

No, they are not.

In 2023, Hope Florida Administrators created a separate non -profit organization called the Hope Florida Foundation. The Tampa Bay Times reported that Casey Desantis's name does not appear in corporate documents for the charity.

The foundation has not yet published any records of its donors or recipients or all state -prescribed records of structure, ethics and supervision.

Why does the Hope Florida Foundation see controversy?

The question is whether the 10 million US dollars were not properly classified and directed.

The controversy around the Hope Florida Foundation came to light after news agencies had discovered a “donation” of $ 10 million of $ 10 million as part of a settlement between the State Agency for Health Administration and Centene, a nursing seller managed by Medicaid.

The entire settlement to solve alleged overpayments was 67 million US dollars, but 10 million US dollars were directed to the Hope Florida Foundation in October.

The Hope Florida Foundation then gave two non -profit organizations to two 5 million US dollars grants that save the future of Florida, chaired by Mark Wilson, the chairman of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and save our company from drugs.

These groups, in turn, gave 8.5 million US dollars to keep Florida clean, a political committee, chaired by James Uthmeier, then by chief of staff of Desantis and the current Attorney General. Keep Florida Clean was set up to oppose a change in the ballot paper in 2024 to legalize leisure marijuana.

The group gave the Florida Freedom Fund $ 1.2 million, another political committee under the chairmanship of Uthmeier and Desantis to combat both the marijuana change and a change that would have brought the right to abortion into the constitution of the state.

What did Ron, Casey Desantis say about the hope of Florida?

Ron Desantis expressed his opinion about the controversy and claimed that these reports were “invented” and a “smear campaign”. During a press conference on April 24th in St. Augustine, who had met Andrades Panel an hour after Andrades, he advised those not to believe what they heard about Hope Florida.

“You received a private donation of 10 million US dollars, which the agency said from the start,” said Ron Desantis. “This is an attempt to create a narrative in which there is really nothing. Why do you do it? It is all because you want to try to make our hope Florida program. So do it. It's all political.”

He also claimed that the media had promoted “false stories” and smeared both the foundation and his wife. Accompanied by his wife, he added that Casey was targeted because she “represents a threat”.

“Some of these left journalists don't like it. They don't like it if they work with the faith community. Some of these people see it as a way to attack the first lady and all the great things they did and to attack them as a threat,” he said.

Casey Desantis also spoke to the critics and allegations and said that they “never let politics disturb the purposes”.

“What we do is good. What we do is just. Sometimes you have to fully armor of God and they fight because they know what they are doing is fair,” said Casey Desantis.

What's next for Hope Florida?

Andrade announced on April 25 that the committee will stop his investigation in Hope Florida.

According to the Florida news service, Andrade's panel will continue to go into the expenditure and other questions of the Desantis administration if the legislator returns to Tallahasee this autumn to the committee meetings. The legislative period 2025 should end next week.

“I am not a public prosecutor or FBI agent. I now know that I will never trust Governor Desantis with taxpayer again, let alone Medicaid money. This will hire my political decisions until I am finished in the public office,” he said.

Could this endanger the possible run of Casey Desantis for the governor?

Ron Desantis was first elected in 2018 and started his term on January 8, 2019. He was re -elected by a landslide in 2022. According to Florida's constitution, he is no longer entitled to run again in the next election in Florida in 2026 and will leave the office in January 2027.

Could another desantis be the turn of the governor? According to surveys, Casey Desantis is one of the top picks for candidates.

A MASON DIXON survey and strategy survey published in March showed that it corresponds to 53% with a survey technology in front of the candidate representative Bryon Donalds with 48%.

However, the hill reported on the allegations in terms of the hope of Florida and the Intraparty gap.

“It's a sign of other things,” Ford O'Connell, a Republican strategist in Florida, told the outlet. “She gets a shot over the bow and a foretaste of the type of mucus that is thrown around if it runs for the governor.”

“People do not recognize what bareknuckle, brutal campaigns it is to become the Republican candidate, be it nationwide or in certain small districts,” he continued. “It's war.”

Casey Desantis has not confirmed or denied a run for the governor. Already in March she told the audience at the Idea Summit of the National Review Institute that “we see” if they were asked about a potential offer for the role.

Contribute: Gray Rohrer, USA Today Network – Florida Capital Bureau

This article was originally published by Florida Times Union: Hope Florida Controversy: What about Casey Desantis' attempt for the government?