Florida agency tells newspaper to halt reporting angle on foundation associated with governor's wife
The newspaper's executive editor, Roger Simmons, said the agency's characterization of the reporter's conduct was 'completely false.' The yet-to-be-published story was looking into grants distributed by Hope Florida to organizations, families, and individuals, according to the Sentinel.
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'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,' Simmons said in an email.
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DCF on Monday repeated the claim that the reporter had harassed multiple foster families who complained to the agency.
'The Orlando Sentinel can report on whatever they want, but they do not have a right to harass foster families,' Miguel Nevarez, DCF's press secretary, said in an email.
The letter is attempting to intimidate the Sentinel from publishing what may be unflattering news about Hope Florida in what is known as prior restraint, and prior restraint efforts typically are unconstitutional, said Clay Calvert, a law professor emeritus at the University of Florida and nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
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If he were the Sentinel's attorney, Calvert said, he would tell the agency 'to go pound sand.'
'DCF can send all the cease and desist letters it wants, but the Sentinel isn't obligated to follow any of them,' he said. 'This is really trying to silence any negative coverage before it comes out.'
Prosecutors in Tallahassee have opened an investigation related to the Hope Florida Foundation. A public records custodian in the office of Second Judicial Circuit State Attorney Jack Campbell confirmed the existence of 'an open, on-going investigation' last month in response to a records request from the Associated Press. The investigation was first reported by the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times.
Republican state lawmakers in DeSantis's own party have been scrutinizing Hope Florida and its nonprofit foundation, which gave $10 million from a state Medicaid settlement to two nonprofits. Those groups in turn gave millions to a political committee, chaired by DeSantis's then-chief of staff, that campaigned against a failed referendum on recreational marijuana.
In April, Republican state Representative Alex Andrade wrapped up the investigation he had been spearheading into Hope Florida, saying he would leave the rest of the inquiry to 'the FBI and Department of Justice,' though there is no public evidence that either is doing so. Andrade has alleged that the flow of funds from the foundation to the nonprofits and on to the political committees amounts to 'conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud.'
The governor has dismissed the investigation of Hope Florida as a politically motivated smear against his wife, whom he's floated as
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