Former Miami Beach City Commissioner Michael Góngora will confirm weeks of speculation 
and file Monday for the commission race in Group 3.
Góngora was a commissioner from 2009 to 2013 in that seat before he ran for mayor in 2013 against Philip Levine. He also lost a race for Florida senate last year, but only because his name did not resonate outside the city. ven though there were five other candidates, he won almost 60% of the vote in Miami Beach and led in every precinct in the city.
“It shows me Miami Beach residents want me back in office,” Góngora told Ladra Sunday night as he left an Equality Florida event. “Now that my former Commission seat is vacant, I have a responsibility to return to office and help work on the issues Miami Beach is facing, which include transportation, development, flooding and mass transit.”
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Gongora said that things haven’t really gotten better since he left office and that perhaps they have gotten worse.
“It’s time to get back to basics,” Góngora said. 
“Miami Beach has been focused on trying to e a player in the national arena,” Gongora said, referring to the offer of a Cuan embassy, the minimum wage ordinance and Levine’s attention on sea level rise and climate change.
“What we need are clean streets that are not flooded, a safer city, more transparency and financial oversight,” Góngora said, referring to the recent discovery that $3.6 million has been stolen from a city account and wasn’t even noticed missing for six months.
“That’s a huge issue,” he said adding that former Commissioner Deede Weithorn had warned about oversight in the finance department. “Nobody wants to own up to the problem. We’re spending money to study how to tighten up when we know what we need are more people and more oversight.”
Weithorn, former Mayor Matti Bower and current Vice Mayor Kristen Rosen Gonzalez — who has got to be hungry for an ally — are going to host the kick-off event for Góngora’s campaign on March 29, he said.
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The former commissioner is running for the seat now occupied by Commissioner Joy Malakoff, a pocket vote for Mayor Levine who has said she will not seek relection because theres nothing there for her when he’s gone.
Two other candidates have filed paperwork indicating they will run. Adrian Gonzalez has raised almost $7,500 and Cindy Mattson, who hadn’t raised anything as of the last report available, through February.
Góngora definitely enters the race as the frontrunner due to 
his leadership and likely support from a number of community organizations that he has been involved with for a long time, from before being elected in 2009 until the present. Last year, he was elected president of the Miami Beach Bar Association.
“I am confident the voters will choose my proven leadership and trusted experience to move Miami Beach forward,” Góngora said in a statement.
“I look forward to an energetic and positive campaign, communicating with voters about my vision for our City’s future, improving our traffic and infrastructure, and bringing back residents into government decisions by listening to the people about what their city government must focus on to improve their quality of life.”
Why not run for mayor?
“My personal and professional commitments don’t allow me the increased time and expense to run for mayor again right now,” Góngora said.
“I also believe that once a new mayor is elected this November the de facto strong mayor position will also be a thing of the past and we will go back to a system where the mayor and commissioners have nearly equal authority with regard to governance as one more vote on the commission,” he said in a not so sideways stab at Levine’s style.
“I will be more effective as commissioner as the senior member of the commission with the most years of experience,” Góngora added.
“And Miami Beach needs my leadership now.”
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