Hope Florida board meeting canceled after offensive images blasted on feed

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.— The much-anticipated first public meeting of the Hope Florida Foundation board was canceled about 40 minutes after it started Thursday when participants’ screens were filled with images of swastikas, racial slurs and pornography.

Technicians tried unsuccessfully to stop the shocking images that flashed across the Zoom feed, causing some audience members to gasp, before Chair Joshua Hay called for a recess.

The Department of Children and Families, which hosted the meeting, said the feed was hacked and law enforcement was called to investigate. The meeting was scheduled to resume later Thursday.

It was a bumpy premiere for the Hope Florida Foundation — affiliated with the passion project of Florida first lady Casey DeSantis — which has been under fire in recent weeks, facing charges it illegally funneled money to a political action committee and scrutiny for failing to file tax forms, hold public meetings or adopt policies required by nonprofit organizations.

Thursday’s meeting aimed to at least get its record-keeping in order.

The meeting was the first public gathering of the foundation since it was created in August 2023. The foundation held three previous meetings but they were not publicly noticed, as the law requires. The only meeting minutes were from the October meeting where the board approved giving the now controversial $10 million donation that was part of a settlement with Centene, the state’s largest Medicaid contractor, to two nonprofits.

Shortly after receiving those grant funds, those two nonprofits donated a combined $8.5 million to a political committee set up for Gov. Ron DeSantis by Attorney General James Uthmeier, then the governor’s chief of staff. The political committee was fighting passage of the 2024 ballot initiative that aimed to make recreational marijuana legal but failed in November’s election.

Republican leaders in the Florida House have charged that taking $10 million from a Medicaid settlement and giving it to a political committee appears to be a crime as it diverted federal funds that should have helped Floridians obtain health care.

Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, chairs the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee that has been probing the donation, which was part of a $67 settlement with Centene over pharmacy overpayments to the state. He said Uthmeier orchestrated the transfer of those funds and Thursday, before the meeting ended, he told the board it should figure out how to get the money back, warning that its nonprofit status was in jeopardy.

“From what I can tell, 80% of all the funds the foundation has received or dispensed found their way into a political committee,” Andrade said. “A fraud was committed on y’all — I strongly urge you to consider recouping those funds, or fall afoul of IRS requirements for maintaining your status.”

Charitable organizations like the Hope Florida Foundation are prohibited by federal law from engaging in political activities.

The foundation is the charity arm of the DCF but also supports Hope Florida, a referral service that aims to get Floridians help from private charities and off government welfare programs. It was spearheaded by Casey DeSantis and viewed as a potential centerpiece of her possible run for governor.

But in recent weeks Hope Florida has become the subject of legislators’ criticism and media attention regarding its unproven track record and seemingly loose record-keeping.

Thursday, the board was expected to discuss the donation, its delinquent tax returns and its failure to produce an annual budget and audit and maintain other records required by law.

Ahead of the meeting, it released a draft of its 2023 tax return, posting it on the DCF and Hope Florida websites. The return shows $867,000 was raised and only $40,000 distributed that year as grants to four nonprofits, including a pregnancy crisis center in Lake City.

Its donors included Centene, the Medicaid contractor, which gave $95,223 to the charity. Records show Centene donated $3.5 million over the years to Republican party political committees and candidates in Florida.

Other big political donors also turned up as donors to the Hope Florida Foundation, among them Tampa Electric Company and the St. Joe Company.

Hay said the foundation had raised a total of $2 million and distributed $500,000 prior to the $10 million donation in the fall of 2024, a period not covered by the newly disclosed tax return.

Before the board got down to business, it invited public comment, as required by the state’s open meeting law.

Most of those who spoke praised Hope Florida and said there was nothing wrong with it receiving the $10 million donation or giving it to nonprofits that help people stay off drugs.

Some repeated the points made in an op-ed piece by former Supreme Court Justice Alan Lawson, posted on the Florida Politics website, that defended Uthmeier.

Lawson has defended the DeSantis administration in numerous lawsuits, including a battle over Disney World’s special improvement district and a suit against state agencies running TV spots about the dangers of marijuana.

The first item of business Thursday was the announced resignation of board member Jake Farmer, a longtime lobbyist for Walgreen’s, the national pharmacy chain. The Department of Children and Families immediately nominated Winter Park investment adviser Wendy Nissan to replace Farmer and the board unanimously ratified her appointment.

Nissan and her husband have donated more than $8,000 to the Republican Party of Florida, DeSantis and other GOP candidates.

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