Dogged by Scandal, Desperate DeSantis Uses DOGE List to Distract From $83 Million Crony Deal, $10 Million Charity Scandal, and $300 Million Detention Crisis

Dogged by Scandal, Desperate DeSantis Uses DOGE List to Distract From $83 Million Crony Deal, $10 Million Charity Scandal, and $300 Million Detention Crisis

TALLAHASSEE, FL — In a pathetic effort to distract from his corruption, inside dealing, and scandals, Governor Ron DeSantis is attacking cities for sponsoring Pride and calling it “wasteful spending.”

The reality is undeniable: a $75,000 Pride sponsorship generates millions in economic activity. St. Pete Pride alone brought $67.2 million to the local economy in 2022 and $60.7 million in 2023, including more than $34 million in direct spending. Pride attendance has grown to more than 300,000–350,000 participants, filling hotels, restaurants, and shops, while boosting wages for hospitality workers and revenues for small businesses and city governments.

Meanwhile, DeSantis’s real spending priorities tell the story of waste and corruption:

• $83 million crony land deal: Taxpayer money handed to a donor for four acres of land at ten times its original purchase price.
• $10 million Hope Florida scandal: Medicaid settlement funds routed through Casey DeSantis’s Hope Florida Foundation, now under criminal investigation for laundering money into dark-money PACs backing the Governor.
• $300 million Everglades detention camp: Nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” this secretive facility bypassed environmental review, drained taxpayer dollars, collapsed after lawsuits, and left 1,200 immigrants missing and unaccounted for.
• Voucher programs defunding public schools: Billions shifted out of classrooms and into politically connected private operators.
• Millions for crisis pregnancy centers: State-funded organizations that mislead and manipulate women.
• Tax holidays for assault rifles: A reckless subsidy that encourages the sale of weapons of war.

“For $83 million, the state could have funded more than 1,100 years of Pride sponsorships — each one delivering millions in benefits to Florida communities,” said Nadine Smith, Executive Director of Equality Florida. “Instead, DeSantis enriches his wealthy donors, launders money through sham charities, and wastes hundreds of millions on failed projects like Alligator Alcatraz, while smearing Pride, which is one of the most reliable engines of local growth.”

The so-called DOGE list is nothing more than a smokescreen — a cynical PR stunt designed to cover DeSantis’s corruption with manufactured outrage.