This Miami Beach leader was denied a free ticket. He flexed his power, complaint says
Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Góngora wanted a free ticket to see a band at the Fillmore Miami Beach and present the group with its own “day” in city history books.
When he was told he would have to pay, Góngora let the theater know who holds the purse strings, Fillmore general manager Trenton Banks said in a late-night email to the city.
The commissioner “brought up our contract negotiations to my marketing manager” and said that he “has a vote on our contract extension,” Banks wrote in a Jan. 15 email to Michele Burger, chief of staff for Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber.
“FYI and when he arrived he gave my Marketing Manager a hard time for going to me,” Banks wrote in the 10:44 p.m. missive, one of several emails related to Góngora’s appearance at the concert obtained by the Miami Herald.
Góngora denied that he brought up the Fillmore’s contract in an interaction outside the theater before the show.
“I’d like to know who said that because no such conversation took place,” he said.
He accused his opponents at City Hall of leaking his email exchanges with Banks to score a “titillating” story in the Herald.
“I went and did my job as a commissioner as requested,” Góngora said. “I did not stay at the concert, I did not choose to go to the concert.”
The mayor declined to comment for this article. Banks did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Tickets for the New Order concert on Jan. 15 were about $85, and Góngora said he paid his own way. He told the Miami Herald he was invited to the show to present an official proclamation to the British band, which played a four-day residency at the Fillmore.
“I just paid because I wanted to avoid any drama,” Góngora said.
Friends get in free
But he did not go alone.
Góngora brought along a friend, whom he said he does not believe paid for a ticket.
And, emails show, an events promoter who identified himself as the City of Miami Beach’s Proclamation Liaison requested that the Fillmore provide four of Góngora’s friends with VIP tickets and backstage access.
The self-described liaison — a made-up title, according to the city — claimed to be representing both the city and Góngora in an email exchange with Greg Johnston, the senior marketing manager for the theater.
“As discussed, Commissioner Góngora has requested that we are able to bring 4 guests each...,” wrote Arnel San Pedro in an email. “Here is our VIP group for the #neworderday on Wed 1.15.”
San Pedro, whom public records say has lived in Miami Beach, listed one woman and three men, all of whom have been photographed on social media with Góngora, as the commissioners’ requested guests. The subject line is “City of Miami Beach Proc #neworderday VIP Guestlist.”
Góngora and his commission aide, Diana Fontani Martinez, were copied on the email. In his response to Johnston, Góngora copied San Pedro.
“I’m happy to pay for a ticket but have never done so at any concert where I am presenting an award including last year when New Order played in Jan. 2019. Is this a new policy?”
Góngora and San Pedro have been photographed together since 2017, according to posts on Facebook.
Góngora said he did not know San Pedro claimed to be affiliated with the city or speaking on his behalf. He said one of the men on the list, Ricardo Barboza, did not attend the show. Another, Luis Alcaide, bought his own tickets, Góngora said. He said he did not “recollect” whether the fourth person, Alex Rodriguez, attended the concert.
“I don’t think anybody should be invoking the name of the city of Miami Beach,” he said.
In response to San Pedro’s request for VIP tickets for his and Góngora’s guests, Johnston said the Fillmore could “accommodate the guests,” but the theater’s policies prevented him from giving out tickets to elected officials.
San Pedro did not respond to a request for comment.
Góngora, who presented New Order with a key to the city in 2019, seemed excited to present the band with New Order Day in the city. Up on stage at the Fillmore, Góngora hyped up the crowd and asked if New Order should be considered for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, according to video of the show.
Reading from his proclamation, Góngora rattled off some of the band’s best hits, including the 1983 album “Power, Corruption & Lies.”
“I think every day should be New Order Day,” he said.
Flattered, one member of the band told the crowd that “your mayor is one cool dude.”
Góngora tried to correct the record, but still overstated his position.
“You gave me a little promotion,” he said. “I’m commissioner vice mayor, but maybe the next mayor.”
Góngora is not the vice mayor. Commissioner David Richardson is currently serving as vice mayor until Feb. 29, according to a city spokeswoman. Commissioners assume the mostly ceremonial role based on a rotation. Richardson started his tenure Nov. 1.
Góngora was first elected to the City Commission in 2007, the same year the board voted to give management control of the Fillmore to Live Nation, a California-based event company. The management agreement runs through 2022, and the commission would vote to extend or end the agreement, a city spokeswoman said.
Before the concert, Góngora sat in City Hall swapping emails with Banks, the general manager of the Fillmore, and asking why he had to pay to get into the show. The condo attorney with Becker & Poliakoff used his private email account to communicate with Banks.
“Will discuss when I get there but my City Attorney says I am performing an official function I’m invited to do and as such a ticket at an event I’m part of is not a ‘gift’ since I’m working onstage and I should not have had to pay a fee and never have before,” Góngora wrote just before 8 p.m. on Jan. 15. “I think this is wrong too.”
Banks emailed that he was “sorry” Góngora felt unhappy with paying for a ticket, but told him Live Nation policy had prevented such an exchange for “some time.”
“It’s cut and dry,” Banks said. “If you were coming to perform your official function and left that would be one thing. If this was a ‘private event’ and not a ‘promoted concert’ that’s another thing. But that ticket for the show tonight has a face value.”
Góngora said he was surprised by the apparent “shift” in policy.
“I’m not going to argue with you but it is a shift from what has happened for the past 13 years since I was first elected ... so you can imagine my surprise,” he said.
“Frankly,” Góngora continued, “I don’t really think I will stay long [at the concert] anyway because I’m exhausted and sitting at a Commission meeting since 830a [sic] today but will sneak out soon and head over.”
What the law says
Miami Beach allows elected officials to seek reimbursement for the price of entry at an event where that person performed an official duty.
But the city’s laws forbid elected officials from accepting gifts, favors or services that “might reasonably tend improperly to influence him in the discharge of his official duties.”
It is against Miami-Dade County ethics law to agree to solicit or accept a gift solely due to a public action “to be taken or which could be taken.”
Any other gifts above $100 that a Miami Beach commissioner receives must be reported to the city. Góngora has yet to disclose any gifts for the new year, but gift disclosures for the months of January and February would not be due until June 30, according to city clerk Rafael Granado.
Additionally, county law stipulates that commissioners cannot “use or attempt to use his or her official position to secure special privileges or exemptions for himself or herself or others,” except when specifically permitted by the county.
State law bars officials from asking for or accepting gifts “based upon any understanding that the vote, official action, or judgment of the public officer ... would be influenced thereby.”
Under the law, elected officials cannot use their position in government “to secure a special privilege, benefit, or exemption for himself, herself, or others.”
Additionally, officials are prohibited from “knowingly accepting, directly or indirectly, a gift from a vendor.” Miami Beach considers Live Nation, which has managed the Fillmore since 2007, to be a city vendor.
It is unclear if Góngora violated any ethics laws, but one of his colleagues on the commission thinks his actions may warrant an investigation.
“City officials should not be using their official position to strong-arm their way into events for free,” Commissioner Ricky Arriola said. “Commissioner Góngora seems obsessed with referring matters to the IG [Inspector General], so I guess in this case, what is good for the goose is good for the gander.”
Miami Beach Inspector General Joseph Centorino, who was appointed in October after serving as the county’s ethics czar, declined to comment for this article.
Centorino worked as the executive director and general counsel of the county’s Commission on Ethics and Public Trust from 2011 to 2018. During his tenure, the commission issued a report criticizing public officials in Miami Beach, Miami and Homestead for abusing free tickets that flow through their offices by attending events themselves or giving them to friends.
The report came out in 2012, after the ethics commission helped prosecutors investigate allegations that Miami Beach administrators withheld a $15 million reimbursement grant from the New World Symphony in an attempt to demand tickets to its new headquarters in South Beach.
The corruption probe, undertaken by the ethics commission and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, ended without any charges being filed.
“The problem we saw is there really weren’t clear-cut guidelines out there,” Centorino said at the time, as quoted in the Miami Herald. As the former head of the State Attorney’s public corruption unit, he oversaw the investigation into whether Miami Beach officials tried to extort the symphony.
The report slammed Miami Beach for ignoring its own ticket policy, which allowed for the distribution of tickets to city leaders and administrators — all the way down to the chief deputy city attorney — and for the formation of a committee to distribute tickets to needy members of the public who wouldn’t be able to afford entry to events at city facilities. The city negotiates complimentary tickets in “public benefit” clauses of city contracts.
The city never created a distribution committee and few “individuals who may not have the financial ability to purchase tickets for cultural events end up benefiting from these free tickets,” the report said.
The city commission passed a law in 2014 reinforcing its policies for distributing complimentary tickets to city employees, officials and nonprofit organizations. A log kept by the city manager documents tickets distributed by the city, the law states.
Góngora was on the City Commission when the county ethics report came out. After becoming the first openly gay commissioner elected in Miami Beach during a special election in 2006, he served a brief stint before winning a four-year term in 2009.
Prior to winning back a seat on the commission in 2017, Góngora unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2013 and for the District 38 seat in the Florida Senate in 2016.
This story was originally published February 22, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
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