Former Santa Clara City Council Member Anthony Becker laid bare what he saw as deep-seated problems within the city government when he stepped to the podium during the Feb. 10 city council meeting. During public comment, when members of the public may speak on any topic not on the agenda, Becker pulled no punches before he narrowed in on the leak of information to the San Francisco Chronicle after the May 7, 2024 closed session of the council. Then, he made a formal request.
“I’m formally asking the city council to take immediate agendized action to publicly discuss a proper investigation into the disclosure of that FIFA information with authority to get some real answers,” said Becker. “Investigate council members, investigate staff, investigate me and everyone who was in that room, including the aftermath.”
Becker has reportedly filed a 030, the official document that asks the council to vote on whether to direct city employees to start an investigation into the closed session leak.
The Weekly has also sought answers about this leak. On Feb. 12, 2025, The Weekly filed a Public Records Act (PRA) request (PRA 25-158), asking the city for all communications about the leak and the ensuing investigation, “including communications among city staff and members of the city council, including the mayor.”
For months, city employees delayed. They offered a rote response saying they were “continuing” to search city servers and needed to consult with another “agency.” They produced no records.
On May 2, 2025, The Weekly took another approach. It filed 16 separate requests (PRAs 25-511 to 25-526). These requests used the same wording but named individuals who were likely in the closed session meeting.
The Weekly named Mayor Lisa Gillmor, Council Members Kevin Park, Suds Jain, Karen Hardy, Anthony Becker, Kathy Watanabe and Raj Chahal, City Manager Jovan Grogan, City Attorney Glen Googins, Assistant City Clerk Nora Pimentel, Assistant City Managers Chuck Baker, Reena Brilliot, Elizabeth Klotz and Nadine Nader and Assistant Police Chiefs Wahid Kazem and Derek Rush.
The city responded immediately via phone. A city employee requested clarification and then asked The Weekly to close the new records requests and work from the old one filed in February. The Weekly declined.
The 16 record requests were opened on Friday morning. All 16 were closed by midday the next Monday with “no responsive documents.”
Furthermore, the original Feb. 12, 2025 request was also closed midday that Monday with “no responsive documents.”
Feeling that perhaps this was simply a matter of wording in our records request, The Weekly submitted another records request on May 12, 2025 (PRA 25-565).
This asked the city to provide “all communications that reference[ed] the leak of confidential information pertaining to the FIFA World Cup negotiations and city budget surrounding the FIFA World Cup at Levi’s Stadium, specifically information that was divulged to local media in May 2024 before it was discussed in a public session by the City Council.”
The Weekly included a link to the San Francisco Chronicle article, which referenced closed session negotiations, the same article that Becker mentioned in his city council comments on Feb. 10, 2026.
The PRA continued, “This would include any ensuing investigation into who may have leaked information to local news outlets, as well as communications between the city attorney, city manager, city staff, or members of the city council in the months following regarding the sharing of this information with outside entities, including media.”
Again, the city delayed. The Weekly received three extensions. On June 5, 2025, the city released 1,410 pages of documentation. Every single page was a copy of the May 23, 2024 email newsletter from this publication. A newsletter that highlighted the leak from the closed session and was sent to city email addresses.
A second release of documentation on June 19, 2025 revealed communications with two members of the media, this publication and the Chronicle, but neither communication revealed how closed session material was leaked, or any ensuing investigations as requested.
The city then delayed reporting four more times before a third document was released on Aug. 14, 2025. It was a single PDF that showed the same communication with the Chronicle that was revealed on June 19.
Four more extensions ensued until a fourth document was released on Sept. 25, 2025. This document was a three-page emailed copy of a blog post about the FIFA documents dated Feb. 12, 2025.
On Oct. 9, 2025, the city closed the PRA. It gave several reasons why it could not disclose any information about leaks of closed session materials and cited several government codes:
- Government code § 7927.500: “ordinary course of business.”
- Government code § 7922.000: “deliberative process privilege.”
- Government code § 7927.700 and Evidence Code § 954: “attorney-client privilege and/or attorney work-product privilege.”
Delays, document dumps and word games appear to be the norm when it comes to the failure to release documents. More than once, The Weekly has tried to get a straight answer from City Hall through the proper channels, only to be met with substanceless responses and bureaucratese, which, to date, has allowed the city to operate without any repercussions.
The City of Santa Clara has a lot of explaining to do, not only them but ultimately the Mayor.
The revelation that The City Manager told a former Councilmember that the Mayor is just going to lie as a reason not to investigate her is so alarming it asks, what kind of public servant says that? That clearly says City Manager Jovan Grogan is afraid of the Gillmor Machine and that also includes the City Attorney Glen Googins. Both Grogan and Googins’ record continues to show they are hands off holding Gillmor accountable. They are playing politics and that is not serving the people of Santa Clara that is serving the interests of Mayor Gillmor. She runs city hall.
The same day this article came out about potential cover up, the loyal blogger to the Gillmor Machine, Robert Haugh’s headline today read, “Santa Clara Police Department Delays Release of Information about Kevin Park in potential cover up”. Such a misleading headline however it tells a story, The Gillmor Machine is afraid that their blurry history of “cover ups” is starting to come into focus. So what do they do? They project their own guilt and spin it. This clearly has Jude Barry’s fingerprints all over this. How much do you want to bet that with the rants of Robert Haugh saying cover up of Kevin Park, suddenly Assistant Police Chief Wahid Kazem will suddenly retire adding more for the Gillmor Machine blog narrative over a police cover up of Kevin Park. This is to deflect from Gillmor’s crimes just as years past. With them accusing Suds Jain of hiding crimes as a basis for their insane recall efforts and Kevin Park of domestic violence they feel they will keep them busy while they cover up their own crimes. When you see things on the blog with comments that say for example, a response to Jeff Houston by Gregg, “Teresa is a Good friend of Yun, Kevin’s wife. I’m glad she is showing up to support her. Maybe you should be more disturbed about domestic violence and child endangerment. That is if you’re a decent person”. This explains the revelation that Teresa O’Neill is showing up to Kevin Park’s divorce proceedings which is sadistic and continues to prove more and more O’Neill’s obsession to destroy Kevin Park. Teresa has not gotten over losing to Park badly, not once but twice.
I filed a PRA, PRA 25-1462 on November 6th 2025 that asked for all the complaints that the Mayor and former Councilmember Watanabe received regarding the stadium since 2016. The city delayed, over and over and was a basis of my letter to the editor. https://www.svvoice.com/letters/letter-to-the-editor-city-of-santa-clara-public-records-request-and-gillmor-watanabe-cry-wolf-over-stadium/. Following delay after delay week after week, I finally got the records and it’s a whole lotta nothing for all the noise issues that Gillmor and Watanabe were squawking about. The noise was mostly in their head or their own little bubble. For someone to say how many complaints they received over the years, one would think they would save them. Yet no, that is no surprise because Gillmor, like her treatment of closed session information, does not respect the PRA process. Gillmor is and has always been above the law and the city continues to be her adamant defender.
This again is part of Gillmor’s scheme of outwitting, outlasting and outplaying everyone from her council colleagues, staff, and even the media. https://www.svvoice.com/letters/outwit-outlast-outplay/. She is overly insulated and no one will touch her. Even the District Attorney who knows she is a criminal and refuses to look into the obvious pattern of leaks to the San Francisco Chronicle. There is documented history, and now with Becker’s accusations and revelation it now shows us a timeline that dates back as far as mid 2010’s https://www.svvoice.com/call-a-plumber-for-the-leaks-and-faulty-pipes-behind-santa-clara/.
On Tuesday, District Attorney Jeff Rosen hosted his State of the Office address striking fear into the county about how unsafe our communities are and threatened that without proper funding public safety will face the harsh department cuts possible and unprecedented layoffs and that because of that there will be a lack of justice. This is ironic, what is he talking about, he already allows a lack of justice. He positions himself as tough on crime however daily lacks the integrity and spine to address his friends and allies misdeeds. Following the trial of Becker, Rosen was asked about looking into the leak to the Chronicle and he says they are done and they got their guy. What kind of justice is that? Rosen has failed to prosecute or investigate those close to him and he ignores crimes committed by elected officials in Santa Clara like the Santa Clara Mayor, the current Santa Clara School Board member and former Councilmember Kathy Watanabe who is the frontrunner to be Santa Clara Mayor in 2026. With the recent revelations about Rosen’s own ally Evan Low’s boyfriend committing alleged prescription pad abuse makes you wonder, Is Jeff Rosen really ethical just like the Gillmor Machine. Rosen is a coward who will never betray his friends and allies. Rosen is also a bully who will only intimidate those he deems a political threat. That among many other reasons is why he needs to go.
Voters need to clean house and elect better leadership, reject Rosen, Gillmor, Watanabe all these career politicians using the government dime for their agendas. Santa Clarans need to demand better transparency and ethics from Gillmor and City Management.
As for the formal request to the agenda, the question is will the City Council support this. The Council will be in a difficult situation with Gillmor’s finger trying to tip the scales, staff’s complicity, and ultimately a fractured council.
The questions out there are will Councilmembers Raj Chahal and Karen Hardy support the request. Both Chahal and Hardy are playing chicken to see who blinks first and steps aside to run for Mayor this year. However, if Chahal and Hardy refuse to hold their colleague the Mayor accountable, the same colleague that has targeted them for years, neither of them deserve to be Mayor of this city. If Chahal abstains or Hardy makes some excuse that falls in line with the City Management, none are deserving to serve as Mayor. It’s the toughest choices that shows true colors. Will Kevin Park support it or will he not follow through on his investigations into these crimes he has known for years? Will Councilmember Park stand up for himself and put all these allegations against him which are coming from Gillmor to rest. With the rumors around town that Suds Jain recall has failed, will Councilmember Jain hold Gillmor accountable? Will Councilmember Kelly Cox put aside her loyalty to Gillmor and support investigating her ally which deep down, Cox knows how crooked Gillmor is. Will Vice Mayor Albert Gonzalez listen to the 49ers on what to do or will he see the need to purge Santa Clara of these unethical demons or be afraid of the Gillmor Machine.
What rationale will be presented for not pursuing accountability against what many consider the most serious violator of the law in Santa Clara’s history?
Where is the grand jury? Where is “ethics expert” Tom Shanks?