James Uthmeier can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but he cannot fool all of the people all of the time.
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Florida’s unelected attorney general and his patron, Gov. Ron DeSantis, are taking voters for fools by downplaying the Hope Florida scandal. The blatant stealing of public money taints them both — and it’s the talk of the state as a statewide election hits its stride.
The term-limited DeSantis is not on the ballot, but Uthmeier is. No matter how he keeps pretending there’s nothing to see, few will be fooled.
Floridians work hard to pay their taxes. They’re not likely to overlook the theft of $10 million that should have gone to Medicaid, the poor people’s health program, but wound up in a political committee Uthmeier ran for DeSantis.
A political wildfire
Maybe Uthmeier can’t feel the heat, but this is a political wildfire. The longer Uthmeier refuses to own up to what he did, the more it helps his Democratic opponent, José Javier Rodríguez.
The grand jury revealed the truth – and the lies.
All of it now documented.
Uthmeier responded with threats. But no one is going to bully this state or its watchdogs into silence about public money the jury said was misused.
Read the report for yourself.https://t.co/e4l2UVw4Fd— Scott Maxwell (@Scott_Maxwell) September 1, 2026
“I don’t think we have anything to worry about here,” Uthmeier said at a news conference on Aug. 27.
Uthmeier’s arrogance is stunning. Jason Garcia, the independent “Seeking Rents” journalist, reports that he raised at least $300,000 in campaign money from law firms and others to whom he issued contracts.
As Florida’s chief legal officer, the attorney general is expected to safeguard our money, rather than have a record of looting it. He’s supposed to advocate for open government, not engage in a coverup.
To hear Uthmeier and DeSantis, the only wrong committed was the illegal leak of a secret grand jury report that told Floridians told just how wrong this scam really was.
“While we can’t prove who is responsible,” the grand jury concluded, “we can plainly see that taxpayer money was misused for political purposes and we would like to see changes made to prevent this from happening again.”
People working for DeSantis skimmed $10 million off the top of a $67 million Medicaid overbilling settlement. It went to a private charity, the Hope Florida Foundation, and from there was laundered into two political committees, Florida Freedom Fund and Keep Florida Clean. Both committees were run by Uthmeier, then the governor’s chief of staff. The money helped to defeat a 2024 ballot initiative to legalize marijuana.
Uthmeier called the shots
Uthmeier was “in a position of authority” over those dealing with the settlement, the grand jury found. “Testimony identified him as having involvement in directing the money after it went to Hope Florida.”
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The governor claims it’s all a smear against his wife Casey, who has championed Hope Florida. But nothing in the grand jury’s findings suggests that she even knew about the money. This is just another distraction by the governor.
At least seven people who did know worked directly for the governor or at his Agency for Health Care Administration, which was in line to receive the $67 million from Centene, the contractor that overbilled Medicaid. It was AHCA, the grand jury found, that instructed Centene to quickly skim $10 million as a “donation” to Hope Florida.
DeSantis subsequently promoted seven principal figures, notably Uthmeier, whom he appointed to replace Attorney General Ashley Moody after the governor sent her to the U.S. Senate.
Moody hasn’t come clean with the voters either. She authorized her chief deputy attorney general, John Guard, to sign off on the deal after it was changed to put the onus on AHCA rather than on Moody’s office. She should have stopped it instead.
DeSantis appointed Guard to an appellate judgeship. Jason Weida, who ran AHCA at the time, is now the governor’s general counsel. All were rewarded for their roles in this underhanded racket.
It’s still a secret
No thanks to state court in Tallahassee, the Hope Florida presentment is still an official secret seven months after it was filed. No one has challenged the authenticity of the copy published by Jim DeFede of CBS4 Miami. Read it for yourself at CBS4 Miami’s website.
There was no indictment, the report concluded, because no witness admitted responsibility for the “misappropriation” or claimed to know who ordered it. That’s not justice. It’s more deception.
“Virtually everyone involved is a lawyer and acted on the advice of other lawyers,” the report said, recognizing that their roles “would be an impediment to criminal prosecution.”
The grand jury recommended that the Legislature prohibit the diversion of public settlement money without the Legislature’s consent.
The document should be unsealed and a copy placed on every legislator’s desk before next session. But Florida voters don’t have to wait that long to do their part.
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board includes Executive Editor Roger Simmons, Opinion Editor Krys Fluker and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant, Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney and editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman. Send letters to [email protected].
COMING SUNDAY: What is Hope Florida? What does it do and who does it benefit? The state doesn’t want you to know.
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