Florida Republicans ask court to ban advertisement about DeSantis' charity scandal

The Republican Party of Florida is asking a judge to stop a Democratic ad about the Hope Florida scandal and is telling TV stations that airing it could be a crime, reported the Florida Trident.

The party filed suit late Friday in Highlands County, seeking an emergency order without giving opponents notice. Defendants include the state Democratic Party, three Democratic statewide candidates, and the owners of 11 stations in the Orlando and Tampa Bay markets. The contested ad, a 30-second spot, says a leaked grand jury report found public money was diverted to a political committee that Attorney General James Uthmeier controlled, and that $10 million was “misappropriated.” Uthmeier is on the November ballot.

Extensive reporting has documented how money returned to the state as part of health care overpayment was then diverted into the Hope Florida Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Ron DeSantis' wife to reduce lower-income people's reliance on welfare, and from there passed through to Uthmeier's PAC Keep Florida Clean, which spent the money to fight ballot propositions legalizing cannabis.

The Florida GOP's theory is that an October 7 appeals court order expunging the grand jury’s report turned its contents into contraband, so broadcasting its substance would violate state law. A party lawyer told stations that running ads based on the report’s contents is a crime, and the party said it has referred the matter to law enforcement.

The Trident says the theory is shaky. A news organization published the full report on August 26, and the appeals court’s opinion itself describes what it says. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the same statute in 1990, and federal law bars broadcasters from censoring candidates’ ads. The appeals ruling also isn’t final yet.

Attorney Andrea Flynn Mogensen said the request is a prior restraint. “If informing voters about what their government has been doing is made unlawful or prohibited, democracy will inevitably collapse,” she said.

The case went to Judge Heather Beato, a DeSantis appointee. Republican Party chair Evan Power said he doesn’t know why the case was filed in Highlands County, where none of the defendants is based. No ruling has been issued as of press time.