Beach commissioner Góngora says new term limits don’t apply to him, runs for reelection

Despite a Miami Beach law preventing city commissioners from holding office for more than two full terms, Commissioner Michael Góngora filed paperwork Friday to run for a third.

Góngora, who is winding down the final months of a second four-year term on the city commission, told the Miami Herald on Friday that a 2014 voter referendum capping a commissioner’s time in office to two complete terms should not apply retroactively to include his first full term on the commission.

Góngora was first elected to the commission in 2006, winning a special election. He served one year in office before losing his seat in 2007. He was again elected in 2009, this time to a full four-year term, before losing a bid for mayor in 2013. He then won a second four-year term in 2017.

He said he expected to receive pushback — either from the city or one of the four candidates running for his Group 3 seat.

“I fully expect that the city or one of the people running may challenge it,” Góngora said. “It is what it is.”

City attorney says Góngora ‘not qualified’ to run

Less than an hour after Góngora submitted his campaign papers, Acting City Attorney Rafael Paz sent the commissioner a letter stating he was “not qualified” to run for reelection due to term limits. Paz wrote that the city clerk’s acceptance of Góngora’s campaign papers on Friday held no relevance to the commissioner’s eligibility to make the Nov. 2 ballot, and would not keep the city from challenging his bid to seek another term.

In a statement to the Herald, Paz said he would ask the City Commission whether to seek a court ruling to settle the dispute.

“As the issues here impact an election that is less than five months away, I intend to seek City Commission direction on whether the City should file a declaratory judgment action in an effort to resolve this narrow legal dispute as expeditiously as possible,” Paz wrote. “It’s in everyone’s interest to obtain a court ruling quickly and prior to the close of the candidate qualifying period in early September.”

Góngora says referendum wasn’t retroactive

The current law says the “lifetime term limit for Miami Beach Commissioners shall be two four-year terms and the lifetime term limit for Miami Beach Mayor shall be three two-year terms respectively, measured retroactively from their first elections...”

The law would not stop Góngora from running for mayor, an option he considered before announcing his reelection bid.

The 2014 referendum amended a previous law that prohibited commissioners from holding office for more than two consecutive terms. Góngora, who was not a commissioner when the latest referendum passed, argued that it does not apply to him because while the current law mentions measuring terms retroactively, the ballot question did not include such language.

He said he has received a legal opinion that he can run for reelection because the referendum was not “properly presented or adopted.”

“The voters weren’t given the full picture so by giving them a vague and incomplete question, I don’t believe that they voted to make it retroactive,” he told the Herald.

The challengers and the incumbent

Even before Góngora announced his run for reelection, rumors about his political future made their way to his political rivals.

Michael Barrineau, a candidate running for Góngora’s seat, wrote an email to the Herald earlier this month saying he heard Góngora was telling friends of a plan to use a “loophole” in the city code to run for reelection.

In an interview Friday, Barrineau said he thinks the city “will now be in a position to defend its charter.” Before entering the race in January, Barrineau said he asked an election-law attorney to confirm if Góngora could run again. The city charter clearly states that the incumbent is term limited, Barrineau said, but it may take a court ruling to say so definitively.

In the meantime, Barrineau said, he will stay in the race. Melissa Beattie, Greg Branch and Stephen Cohen also have filed to run for Góngora’s seat.

“I don’t see wiggle room. I don’t see loopholes,” he said.

The 2014 referendum passed with 71% of the vote. Góngora, who said his supporters have pushed him to remain in public office, said he did not want to send the message to the public that he is trying to defy the intent of the voters in 2014. He said he wants the voters to decide in November whether or not to keep him in office.

“I believe that the people should have the right to determine whether they are happy with my service or not,” he said.