Orlando attorney caught up in DeSantis’ Hope Florida fiasco is on the state payroll

Jeff Aaron, an Orlando-based lawyer with the firm DownsAaron, has found himself in the hot seat over the last week or so for legal advice he provided to a program linked to a charity led by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s wife that is currently facing scrutiny over alleged misuse of public money.

As first reported by the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald, the Hope Florida Foundation, linked to First Lady Casey DeSantis, reportedly received $10 million in Medicaid dollars owed to taxpayers, as part of a $67 million settlement between the state of Florida and Centene, the state’s largest Medicaid contractor.

The foundation then reportedly steered that $10 million to two “dark money” groups that later funneled it to an anti-marijuana political committee controlled by DeSantis’ then-chief of staff that successfully campaigned to defeat Florida’s marijuana legalization ballot initiative last November.

Aaron, an attorney often referred to as Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “right-hand man,” according to the Orlando Business Journal, has been offering his legal services to the Hope Florida Foundation since October. He’s described the latest fiasco to the Orlando Sentinel as a “a politically motivated witch hunt.”

But Aaron, a graduate of the University of Florida Levin College of Law, isn’t just a private sector lawyer. He also has a history representing Gov. DeSantis in legal disputes and public sector employers, while simultaneously weighing in on cases of alleged violations of labor law committed by public employers as a public official.

See, Aaron serves as one of two part-time commissioners (both appointed by DeSantis) for Florida’s Public Employees Relations Commission, a small state agency tasked with enforcing public sector labor law. Among other responsibilities, this includes the enforcement of a controversial union reform law championed by DeSantis in 2023 that has so far resulted in the elimination of dozens of public sector unions across the state.

Aaron was himself named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by teachers unions to block that law, identified by his position as PERC commissioner. (The statewide teachers’ union, the Florida Education Association, declined to comment for this story.)

Officially, the commission’s duty under Florida statutes is to “to assist in resolving disputes between public employees and public employers,” including alleged violations of labor law, such as failing to pay overtime or wrongful firings by employers.

The job earns him total compensation of roughly $78,000 annually on the state payroll. Outside of that, Aaron represents “private and public sector clients throughout Florida,” according to his bio.

One of those clients, as of January, is the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority — a job he reportedly scored the same month his term as PERC commissioner was set to expire. Aaron was appointed PERC commissioner by DeSantis in 2021 for a term that was set to end Jan. 1, 2025. The Orlando Sentinel reported over the weekend that the GOAA, a government entity that oversees operations at the Orlando International Airport, named Aaron as their general counsel in January, a job that pays nearly $600 an hour.

Yet, Aaron’s name still continued to show up in PERC case files published after his term ended, and on the agency’s website, where Aaron is still identified as a commissioner.

According to Florida Senate records, Aaron was reappointed by the Governor to serve another term as PERC commissioner beginning Feb. 14, 2025, to last through Jan. 1, 2029. The Florida Senate Government Oversight and Accountability Committee, made up of seven state lawmakers (two Democrats, and five Republicans), unanimously approved his reappointment to PERC earlier this month on April 1.

Where is the line drawn?

Under Florida statutes, the Public Employees Relations Commission is meant to be composed of a chair and two part-time commissioners who are “representative of the public and known for their objective and independent judgment.”

They also “shall not be employed by, or hold any commission with, any governmental unit in the state or any employee organization, as defined in this part, while in such office.”

According to guidance on code of ethics for public officials, published by the Florida Commission on Ethics, “A public officer or employee is prohibited from holding any employment or contract with any business entity or agency regulated by or doing business with his or her public agency.”

Additionally, “A public officer or employee also is prohibited from holding any employment or having a contractual relationship which will pose a frequently recurring conflict between the official’s private interests and public duties or which will impede the full and faithful discharge of the official’s public duties.”

Limited exemptions to these prohibitions have been created, under Florida’s ethics laws, including for “persons whose professions or occupations qualify them to hold their public positions,” although it’s unclear if Aaron would qualify.

Aaron’s position as PERC commissioner is not publicly listed on his LinkedIn profile, nor on his law firm’s website. He did not respond to two requests for comment from Orlando Weekly on whether he believes his work poses a conflict of interest with his PERC job.

Aaron, who left the Orlando law office of GrayRobinson to form a new firm with city of Orlando attorney Mayanne Downs last September, is an ally of DeSantis, and represented the governor in legal proceedings during Aaron’s tenure as PERC commissioner.

According to previous reporting and legal records, Aaron represented DeSantis in a contentious legal battle between the governor and former Hillsborough County state attorney Andrew Warren, whom DeSantis suspended from office. Warren later characterized his removal by DeSantis in a lawsuit as a violation of his First Amendment rights.

Aaron was also reportedly tapped last October to serve as an attorney for the Hope Florida Foundation, a program created to promote an initiative by DeSantis’ wife, Casey, with a goal to get Floridians off government assistance.

Even more of the taxpayer’s dime

As a PERC commissioner, Aaron receives an annual salary of $54,423 in base pay, plus $22,972 in benefits, paid by the state. But there are records indicating that PERC was lobbying for commissioners to earn more.

Emails obtained by Orlando Weekly through a public records request earlier this month show that PERC collaborated with the Governor’s office and Republican lawmakers earlier this year to develop legislation (HB 1387) that initially proposed an increase to PERC commissioners’ salaries, equaling a roughly $20,000 boost in pay, according to a House staff analysis. The legislation, opposed by labor unions, also proposes changes union election rules to make it harder for public employees to form unions and for those unions that are established to remain certified.

Although the House version of the bill, sponsored by Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, cleared its first of three committee stops in March, the proposal appears to have stalled in both legislative chambers as Florida’s 60-day legislative session nears its end.

Ahead of its one and only committee hearing, Mulicka-Persons revised the bill to cut out the proposed salary boost for PERC commissioners. There was no explanation provided for why that provision was cut out, but email records (and attachments) obtained by the Weekly show that PERC chair Kerey Carpenter helped prepare the revision, ahead of its committee stop, for Persons-Mulicka’s use.

This post has been updated to differentiate between Hope Florida and the Hope Florida Foundation. We have also added context on the code of ethics for public officials based on guidance from the Florida Commission on Ethics.

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This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2025.