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The Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, is facing a new scandal after it was revealed that his administration diverted more than $35 million in state funds to finance an aggressive advertising campaign against constitutional amendments that would have legalized recreational marijuana and reversed the ban on abortion after six weeks.
According to a joint investigation by the Miami Herald and the Tampa Bay Times, a significant portion of the money came from funds designated for children in vulnerable situations, public health programs, and agreements related to the opioid crisis.
Instead of being used for those purposes, the money was redirected to political consultants, lawyers, and media campaigns designed to promote the governor's agenda.
“It is corruption at the expense of children,” denounced the emeritus professor Kenneth Goodman, an expert in medical ethics at the University of Miami.
“Divert resources intended for a vulnerable population for political purposes is morally unacceptable,” he emphasized in statements to the Miami Herald.
According to records reviewed by the Herald/Times, the Department of Children and Families allocated $1.1 million in federal child protection funds to place anti-abortion advertisements, while the Department of Health diverted nearly $1 million from community health programs to the same campaign.
Additionally, $4 million from the state opioid fund —created to support communities affected by addiction— was used to pay for ads warning about the supposed "dangers of marijuana," without mentioning that the substance was on the ballot for public voting.
In total, 79% of the diverted funds came from money allocated for healthcare and social welfare, according to the journalistic analysis.
Publicly funded advertisements were presented as “educational campaigns” or “public health messages,” but in practice, they functioned as electoral propaganda.
The pieces were broadcast on television, radio, and social media just before the 2024 elections, directly targeting the two amendments that sought to legalize marijuana and reverse the abortion law.
Among the most controversial messages were phrases such as “Amendment 4 threatens the safety of women” or “Modern marijuana reconfigures the human mind,” without citations or scientific support.
Even the Federal Highway Safety Administration expressed its concern about the political nature of some announcements, which improperly used its logo “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over”.
To execute the strategy, the DeSantis administration turned to the firm Strategic Digital Services, linked to campaigns of the Florida Republican Party.
The company received at least $16.4 million from five state agencies in just three days, according to the reviewed payment records.
These contracts were awarded without public bidding and utilized legal exemptions designed for medical services, which, according to experts in ethics and administrative law, violates state procurement law.
"It is difficult to describe it in any way other than a deliberate misuse of public funds,” said Republican lawmaker Alex Andrade, who oversees the state health budget.
"This seems more like a political operation than a public health campaign," he commented.
Part of the diverted money would have also ended up in Hope Florida, a charitable organization driven by the governor's wife, Casey DeSantis.
The report reveals that $10 million from a Medicaid agreement were redirected to a political committee controlled by the governor's chief of staff, James Uthmeier, tasked with funding ads against the amendments.
DeSantis publicly defended the campaign, claiming they were merely "educational ads."
However, research indicates that the messages were carefully targeted at older, conservative voters with a high propensity to vote.
Even within the Republican Party, the scandal has generated backlash. State Senator Joe Gruters, former president of the party in Florida, described DeSantis's actions as “undemocratic and a violation of state law.”
The former state finance director, Alex Sink, warned that the money transfers examined "probably shouldn't have been approved."
Several lawmakers have requested a formal investigation into embezzlement of funds.
Meanwhile, the State Grand Jury continues to conduct a parallel investigation into the use of the charity Hope Florida as a mechanism for political fundraising.
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