By J.C. Bruce
The Florida Republican Party, desperate to muzzle conversation about the Hope Florida scandal, has dropped its lawsuit that sought to block Democrats’ ads that cited a grand jury report condemning the scheme.
But another question has lingered: Who, specifically, wanted to keep the grand jury’s report under wraps?
Now we know because, as the Tampa Bay Times and the Miami Herald first reported, the court overseeing the controversy this week posted a document naming names.
You will recall that the grand jury presentment was highly critical of the decision to reroute $10 million in Medicaid funds that should have gone to help sick children and instead was used to support Gov. Ron DeSantis’ pet political causes.
Nonetheless, the grand jury did not indict anyone, though it cited the roles of individuals, including those who testified.
The cast of characters in the court document released this week included:
James Uthmeier: Florida’s current Attorney General and, at the time the Hope Florida scandal went down, DeSantis’ chief of staff. He controlled the political committee (Keep Florida Clean) that received millions of dollars routed from the charity.
Jason Weida: Current DeSantis chief of staff. He previously served as the secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), where he oversaw the $67 million Medicaid settlement carveout that directed $10 million to the Hope Florida Foundation.
Jeff Aaron: Attorney for the Hope Florida Foundation who reviewed the subsequent grant applications. He is now the registered agent on Uthmeier’s political committee, Friends of James Uthmeier, and serves on Florida’s Public Employees Relations Commission.
John Guard: Former chief deputy attorney general, recently appointed by DeSantis to the 2nd District Court of Appeal.
Mark Wilson: CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and head of Secure Florida’s Future, one of the nonprofits that received and routed the funds.
Amy Ronshausen: Head of Save Our Society From Drugs, the second nonprofit involved in routing the settlement money.
Cody Farrill: DeSantis’ deputy chief of staff.
Andrew Sheeran: Former general counsel at the AHCA who helped draft the controversial settlement. He is now a judge on the 2nd Judicial Circuit Court.
Katie Strickland: Former deputy chief of staff to DeSantis, currently chief of staff to Florida’s Chief Financial Officer. The grand jury report called her the “least informative” of those interviewed and “not credible.”
Frank Walker: Leader of the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s political team.
The two nonprofit organizations involved—Save Our Society From Drugs and Secure Florida’s Future.
They all appear in the excerpt from the court document shown above, where they filed motions to “repress and expunge” the grand jury report.
Back to the G.O.P.’s attempted-censorship lawsuit, which they have now dropped, among the ads that Republicans wanted kept off the air was this one:
It is now being shared online statewide.
"Well, that didn't take long," said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried in a statement responding to the G.O.P.’s decision to abandon their lawsuit.
"Republicans raced to court in the middle of the night to silence us, threatened TV stations, and tried to scare Floridians out of talking about Hope Florida. After a judge denied their emergency request to pull our ad, they walked away from their own case.
“Their stunt backfired. Thanks to this lawsuit, more Floridians are paying attention, and the pressure for answers keeps mounting.
Who decided to send $10 million from a Medicaid settlement to the first lady's charity? Why did $8.5 million of it end up in a political committee run by James Uthmeier? And what did the Republican Party of Florida do with its share? Those questions aren't going away just because Republicans dropped their lawsuit."
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J.C. Bruce
Your timelines and details in reporting this is truly remarkable and very much appreciated, thank you, J.C. and Tropic Press!
Great reporting, J.C. I hope the Pulitzer Prize Committee is taking note.