Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ opposition to the First Amendment is well established: see for example his efforts to roll back legal protections for media outlets and to quash diversity measures at private companies (which earned a colorful condemnation from a federal judge back in 2022). But his administration’s latest effort to shut down a news investigation into alleged corruption is uniquely disturbing, even by his standards.
The administration is facing criticism from First Amendment advocates over an unsigned cease-and-desist letter from Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) sent last week to the Orlando Sentinel, demanding that the paper and its reporter Jeffrey Schweers stop investigating allegations of fraud related to a community welfare program spearheaded by Casey DeSantis, the governor’s wife and potential Republican candidate in next year’s gubernatorial race.
The investigation, first reported by the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald, centered on what the DeSantis administration did with money from a $67 million settlement with Medicaid contractor … Desantis administration officials ‘directed’ $10 million from that pot of money to the Hope Florida Foundation, the nonprofit arm of an organization led by Casey DeSantis, according to records the group had to file as part of its nonprofit status. Of that money, $5 million was then sent to a group aligned with the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and another $5 million to a group called Save Our Society from Drugs. Those groups then sent a total of $8.5 million toward a political committee led by [state attorney general James] Uthmeier that was working to defeat the recreational marijuana amendment. It’s not clear how much of the $10 million went directly to the PAC.
The governor’s administration apparently wants the Sentinel to cease its reporting on the matter. The cease-and-desist letter from the Florida DCF accuses Schweers of “falsely and with malicious intent asserting that the families are implicated in fraudulent activity by accepting financial assistance from Hope Florida Foundation” and claims that Schweers’ “threats and accusations were used as coercion to get the families to make negative statements about Hope Florida.” (The Hope Florida Foundation, as NBC News notes, is the nonprofit arm of the DeSantis’ welfare alternative, “which has a goal to steer Florida residents away from government programs and instead toward services from nonprofits and faith groups,” according to the Tallahassee Democrat.)
“We stand by our stories and reject the state’s attempt to chill free speech and encroach on our First Amendment right to report on an important issue,” Roger Simmons, the Sentinel’s executive editor, told The Associated Press via email, adding that DCF’s description of Schweers’ reporting was “completely false.”
DeSantis appeared to co-sign the agency’s demand in a tweet sharing the letter. “Bottom feeders gonna bottom feed,” he said.
In a reply to the governor’s post, Schweers asked why the administration hadn’t responded to his public records requests. He’s also shared social media posts from people who say he’s done nothing untoward and accusing the administration of blatant intimidation tactics.
In the absence of any evidence of wrongdoing by Schweers or the Sentinel, it certainly looks like DeSantis is bearing down on the free press to silence a story simply because it might portray his family in a bad light.
