The Republican Party of Florida is suing the state Democratic Party, candidate for governor David Jolly and other politicians to stop a television ad that mentions a grand jury’s findings about Hope Florida.
The court filing out of Highlands County accuses television stations of breaking the law by airing Democratic candidates’ ad focusing on the jury’s report, which was leaked to CBS Miami and published in August. An appeals court on Oct. 7 ordered the report expunged, saying it was irresponsibly distributed by State Attorney Jack Campbell’s office and the jury’s findings were incorrect.
The jury said $10 million in public funds from a Medicaid settlement were “misused for political purposes” in fighting a 2024 ballot measure aimed at legalizing recreational marijuana. First District Court of Appeal Judge Lance Neff, appointed to the seat by Gov. Ron DeSantis after the grand jury report was written, authored the majority opinion that ruled the millions were “never public money” and lambasted the grand jury report as being riddled with flaws, including typos.
The party’s lawsuit, filed Friday night, addresses the impact the ad could have on the upcoming election.
“RPOF (the Republican Party of Florida) will suffer irreparable harm absent a temporary injunction,” the lawsuit says. “Vote-by-mail ballots are already in voters’ hands, and early voting starts in many counties as soon as Monday.”
A couple of candidates named in the lawsuit did not immediately respond to requests for comment. That includes former Republican U.S. Rep. David Jolly, who is running for governor as a Democrat. The suit says each named candidate approved the ad, which is running across multiple TV stations.
Michael Sasso, counsel for the Republican Party, cited and echoed the appellate court ruling, saying that the grand jury report and ads are “wrong on the law and unsupported by the facts” and that “repeating them by broadcast is a crime under Florida law.” The court filing says publishing material from the report is a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and fines.
Among the candidates the party is suing is Democrat Annette Taddeo, who is running for Florida chief financial officer against GOP incumbent Blaise Ingoglia.
“I called for an investigation into who authorized those payments a month ago,” Taddeo wrote in an email to the Times. “Now, the Republican Party of Florida, which Ingoglia used to chair, has gone to court to pull an ad off the air before anyone can respond, and is threatening to prosecute TV stations for airing it. That should outrage every Floridian.”
The ad linked to in the suit criticizes Attorney General James Uthmeier specifically.
“A leaked grand jury report found taxpayer money was quietly moved into a dark money political committee that James Uthmeier controlled,” the ad says. It shows Uthmeier in front of a black background with his hands on stacks of cash.
The suit names Jose Javier Rodriguez, who is running against Uthmeier for attorney general. The Florida Democratic Party is also a defendant.
The lawsuit also targets Fox Television and other communications companies in Tampa Bay and across Florida.
