Documents: City leader admitted to 49ers leak, tried to frame mayor
Witness testified that Becker got married so his husband couldn't testify against him
Santa Clara Councilmember Anthony Becker admitted leaking a confidential grand jury report about the city's cozy relationship with the 49ers and asked a campaign volunteer to blame the leak on Mayor Lisa Gillmor, according to transcripts of the investigation obtained by this news organization.
Becker was indicted by a criminal grand jury last month and has entered a plea of not guilty to allegedly leaking a Santa Clara County civil grand jury report about the council's relationship with the 49ers to the team and to the Silicon Valley Voice and then lying about it.
Becker, through Public Defender Christopher Montoya, has maintained his innocence, with the attorney telling reporters earlier this month that “firsttime impressions of a case are often wrong or incomplete.”
But transcripts of testimonies given to the criminal grand jury that indicted Becker paint a different picture. The transcripts become public under California law if the grand jury votes to indict and only 10 days after a copy is given to the defendant or their attorney.
During a March 29 grand jury hearing, Santa Clara Councilmember Suds Jain — one of Becker's allies on the council — said that the councilmember had called him two to three weeks earlier and admitted that he had leaked the grand jury report to Carolyn Schuk, an editor at the hyperlocal news outlet the Silicon Valley Voice.
“He was just under a lot of stress,” Jain told the grand jury of Becker's disposition. “To be honest, I wish he hadn't told me. But he did, and so I have to report it today.”
The report at the center of the leak, titled “Unsportsmanlike Conduct,” was highly critical of Becker and four of his colleagues for voting in favor of the 49ers' interests. The NFL team plays at the city-owned Levi's Stadium.
The report was supposed to be made public on Oct. 10, but a draft of the report was published in several media outlets, including this one, on Oct. 7.
Former 49ers spokesperson Rahul Chandhok, who was interviewed in front of the grand jury on several occasions and had an immunity agreement, said Becker sent him a copy of the report on Oct. 6 via the encrypted messaging app Signal.
Chandhok said he asked Becker if he had sent the report to anyone else. The councilmember said he had already sent it to Angie Tolliver, the editor-inchief at the Silicon Valley Voice.
The former 49ers spokesperson, who now works for the United States Soccer Federation, said he didn't recall if Becker knew the draft report wasn't public information.
“I don't remember him ever being like fearful about sending it, because he had already sent it to others,” Chandhok told the grand jury.
While Becker admitted to Jain that he was the source of the leak, testimony from a campaign volunteer, David Andre, suggests the councilmember tried to pin the blame on Gillmor, his political rival. Andre had volunteered on several of Becker's campaigns, including his unsuccessful bid for mayor last year.
Andre, who said he has since distanced himself from the councilmember, said he was aware of the grand jury report before it was made public.
“He told me he was concerned about, like, the negative press that it was going to cause,” Andre told the jury. “And he said something about wanting to get ahead of the report, or he wanted positive coverage when it was reported.”
On the day Andre was subpoenaed to testify to the grand jury, he said he received a call from Becker, who said his then-boyfriend, Abel Cardona, had been subpoenaed. When Andre confirmed he had been subpoenaed as well, he said Becker told him, “Tell him it was Lisa Gillmor.”
Gillmor did not respond to a request for comment.
Andre told Becker not to contact him until the investigation was over, but on the day the district attorney's office seized the councilmember's phones and computers, Becker showed up on his doorstep, Andre said. The campaign volunteer said he was “nervous” and “disturbed” that Becker showed up unannounced and pressured Becker to answer whether he was behind the leak.
Becker at first said no but then later told him that Cardona had leaked the report, according to Andre. Becker and Cardona were married in January, according to testimony from Becker's mother, Virginia Goncalves. Andre told the grand jury that Becker said he and Cardona were getting married so Cardona wouldn't have to testify against him.
The councilmember is being charged with a misdemeanor for the leak, as well as felony perjury and could face up to four years in county jail if convicted on the latter charge.
The grand jury interviewed more than 20 individuals, including 49ers executives and consultants, current and former city staff, civil grand jurors, people associated with Becker's mayoral bid and his mother.
The indictment has sparked controversy in the Mission City, with Gillmor and some residents calling on the councilmember to resign. Several of his colleagues, however, have defended him, saying they should let the legal process play out.
Becker and his attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
His next court date is set for Aug. 2.