By Brian Doyle
The recent reporting on the trial of Anthony Becker for perjury (lying under oath) reveals what is fundamentally wrong with the current and future Santa Clara City Council that is dominated by council members whose elections were supported by millions of dollars in Jed York’s money.
After the Grand Jury realized that their draft report had been leaked illegally before it became public, they called each of council members in to ask them under oath if they had given it to anyone before the publication date. They all denied that it was them.
Upon further investigation, it became evident that Becker had in fact sent the report to Rahul Chandhok at the 49ers and to Carolyn Shuck at the Silicon Valley Voice. Revealing the draft report was a misdemeanor under the Penal Code; lying about it under oath was felony perjury.
When the Criminal Grand Jury took over the investigation, they called in Council Member Suds Jain who testified that Becker had admitted to him that he had been the one that leaked the report.
At Becker’s trial on Thursday Jain testified: “About two to three weeks before my testimony, I got a phone call (from Becker), and he said he had given the report to a reporter.”
So upon learning that a fellow council member had violated the Penal Code and knowing that others on the Council had been accused of being the one who leaked it, Jain clammed up. Jain even told Becker that he didn’t want him to tell him any more about what he had done.
So instead of trying to get to the bottom of a crime committed by another member of the Council, Jain covered it up through his public silence. The breach of the public trust by a council member who had illegally violated a duty of confidentiality and then lying about it under oath brought significant shame to the City Council as a public body, and consequently a deep loss of public trust.
Instead of stepping up to defend the Council in the eyes of the public by revealing the truth about what had happened, Jain hid the truth until he was compelled to testify under oath. Even after he knew that Becker had broken the law and brought shame to the City, he not only ignored calls for his resignation, he voted to appoint him as vice mayor.
One can only conclude that Mr. Jain’s ethical standards are extremely low, if non-existent. His ability to understand how the public would perceive his actions is even lower.
The San Francisco Chronicle’s reporting on Jain’s testimony illustrates Jain’s defective understanding of public perception:
Jain said he “assumed” Becker leaked the document while it was under seal, “but he didn’t tell me.” Later, Jain acknowledged he had testified before the grand jury that Becker had leaked the report “before it was public” but he said, “I was confused.”
Judge Javier Alcala allows jurors to ask questions, and one juror tried to clear up the issue. She asked why anyone would need to give a grand jury report to a reporter if the document was publicly available.
Jain was slow to reply. “It’s possible a reporter didn’t know where to find it,” he said.
One can only ask: Is it possible to be more disingenuous?
Editor’s Note: Brian Doyle is Santa Clara’s former City Attorney and a Mission City resident.
[…] did not mention that he covered up Becker’s crime until he was forced to testify under oath before the Grand […]
[…] the 49ers in his role before he was fired in 2021 amid allegations of tirades against the team, wrote a piece for the website Santa Clara News Online criticizing Jain after his testimony. Jain then jumped into […]
[…] Jain covered up Becker’s criminal activity until he was forced to tell the truth while under oath, an action that legal and ethical experts […]
Suds,
You should have immediately reported the likely potential crime Anthony Becker told you firsthand. You did not want to hear more as you had heard too much already, leaving you in an ethical/moral dilemma; a real Catch-22. You made the wrong choice covering the crime. It was a dereliction of your literally sacred duty and oath to us citizens.
If Becker is convicted, I believe your actions should be reviewed by District Attorney Rosen for the potential crime you may have committed by concealing what Becker told you.
“In California, an accessory to a crime is someone who helps, encourages, or aids in the commission of a crime, without directly participating in it. This can include helping before, during, or after the crime.” Those terms are purposely ambiguous.
What sucks is that Becker’s trial got delayed past the recent election. Suds, you would not have been elected if this had come out before the election. If not for the delay of the trial and all the money the 49ers poured your way you would NEVER have been reelected.
Your actions have truly tarnished our city.
Doyle indicates he is relying on an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, likely the one published by Lance Williams on November 21, 2024. ”About two to three weeks before my testimony, I got a phone call from Becker, Jain said.” https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/49ers/article/testimony-49ers-backed-councilman-admitted-leak-19932698.php
At least three separate news organizations clearly note that Becker’s revelation came 2-3 weeks after Jain received a subpoena, when it is likely Jain didn’t know the full extent of the investigation (subpoenas aren’t detailed).
• November 22, SJ Spotlight: “Jain said the confession happened during a phone call with Becker about being stressed by the grand jury’s investigation of the leak — and Jain said he told Becker not to tell him anything else. ” https://sanjosespotlight.com/santa-clara-official-testifies-about-colleague-leaking-49ers-report/
• November 24, SJ Mercury: “Jain said that had called him about two or three weeks before he was expected to testify in front of a criminal grand jury.” https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/11/22/santa-clara-councilmember-who-implicated-anthony-becker-in-49ers-leak-says-he-was-confused/
In receiving a subpoena, notable law firms and their attorneys advise the following…
a) Do not speak to anyone other than your attorney about the subpoena or the underlying lawsuit or investigation. https://www.morse.law/news/top-11-tips-in-responding-to-a-subpoena/
b) It is important to remember that documents produced and things you say can be used against you later. https://curleybusinesslaw.com/when-served-a-subpoena/
Still Doyle opines, “So instead of trying to get to the bottom of a crime committed by another member of the Council, Jain covered it up through his public silence.”
Brian L. Doyle received his J.D. from UC Berkeley’s School of Law and in 1984 was admitted to practice law in California. One would presuppose an attorney with 40 years’ experience understands (i) a council member isn’t responsible or capable of “get[ting] to the bottom of a crime” and (ii) witnesses are advised not to speak out publicly while under a subpoena.
Doyle’s time with the City of Santa Clara doesn’t appear to be notable, his employment lawsuit against the City of Santa Clara was quickly quashed by the Courts, and this Op-Ed appears emotionally charged rather than logically composed. Council Member Suds Jain should be commended for not speaking with others about his upcoming Grand Jury witness testimony, otherwise someone might accuse him of trying to collude with the accused. If Doyle were more competent in the practice of law, he would have known that as well.
CSC,
Suds Jain should have spoken to Steve Ngo who was city attorney at the time and thus Suds Jain’s attorney when it came to his role as a city councilperson. Ngo was also the appropriate person to talk to about the crimes that Anthony Becker confessed to him which were not simply personal ones but ones relevant to the interests of the city and its people.
Suds was not simply a private citizen but a city councilperson. I expect any city councilperson to be concerned about potential corruption of other city councilpeople. And there is a mountain of public facts that pointed to Anthony Becker being corrupt and benefiting personally from the millions of dollars that the Forty Niners spent to support his political ambitions. They helped him have the only career that he has had for years and any reasonable bystander would conclude that Becker was currying favor with them to continue their support of him in trying to continue to move up the ladder after becoming mayor of Santa Clara. Thankfully he and they failed in this and this scheme was uncovered.
It does not take a law degree to understand that Suds owed his constituents to speak up about this. He did not need to legally imperil himself in any way or take on the duties of a law enforcement investigator. He could and should have informed and sought the counsel of Steve Ngo. Nobody would think that he was colluding with Becker had he done this. The fact that he did not and did not tell anyone else is why he did collude with Becker to hide Becker’s crimes. Until he told the truth in his grand jury testimony that is. But he should have revealed this to the city attorney before testifying about it to a county civil grand jury. That is unless he believed that Steve Ngo would cover it up and that the civil grand jury was needed to handle it appropriately but we know this was not the case because he has never made this claim and all his remarks on the civil grand jury have been negative.
I expect that with all his experience in the law and representing governments that Brian Doyle knows this but I do not need Brian Doyle or anyone else to tell me that this is true. It is obvious that this is true.
@Buchser Alum: I think you missed the part that Jain was already under subpoena when Becker allegedly made his revelation. Steve Ngo, the city’s legal team, and the entire City Council already knew Becker was SCCDA’s suspect #1 and that Suds Jain was due to testify in the near term. There was no reason for Jain to run into Ngo’s office yelling, “Anthony did it, Anthony did it” when Jain’s testimony would be officially taken in a matter of weeks. Becker’s alleged revelation to Jain didn’t put the City in anymore harm than it already was in. Now, if there was no investigation under way, he wasn’t under subpoena, and people were still searching for who released the report, Jain would have had the ethical responsibility to bring Becker’s statement to light.
Following the process is exactly what an attorney representing you, hypothetically, would advise.
CSC, do you work at city hall cause you seem to know a lot about who knew what when anyone subpoenaed was supposed to be keeping their mouth shut.
CSC,
I did not notice that Suds was under subpoena when Becker confessed to him. I do not think that matters. I think that as a city councilperson who learned that a city councilperson perjured himself in testimony about using his position to illegally benefit a corporate special interest in the city he owes it to his constituents to inform the city attorney about this and seek his counsel.
The fact that he was going to testify in front of a county civil grand jury does not change this fact. In such a situation there are actions that the city should be considering and to do this whether or not the county may or may not take some action of its own.
The city attorney should have known that Suds knew Becker lied about using his office to help the Forty Niners. It is an important fact when considering if it is appropriate for Becker to be voting on any stadium issues or whether or not he should be on the council at all or if he should be impeached by his fellow councilpeople. It is important for deciding whether or not it is appropriate for him to be elevated to the role of vice mayor.
Suds hid this fact not because of good legal counsel. He did not have legal counsel on this as a city councilperson because he did not inform his counsel as a city counselperson. Suds hid this fact as long as he could as a personal act with personal political motivation.
Just look at his reaction according to his own testimony. He told Becker that he wished that he had not told him. He wished that Becker had not told him not that he wished Becker had not illegally given the report to the Forty Niners and then illegally lied about it. And in his comment on this page he has no defense for his actions only counterattacks on Doyle and others.
Why have meetings with the 49ers? Becker went down for that. Also. Jain regularly communicated with Caserta about Doyle. Why?
Lenin had the right defintion of Jain
USEFUL IDIOT
Sudhanshu Jain
Why do you continue to include Deanna Santana’s name in your comments? Leave Deanna out of your your weekly written rants. Please use your time more wisely.
Mr. Jain,
Your screed is so full of falsehoods that it only demonstrates my point: you are incapable of ethical understanding.
And yet Mr Jain got re-elected. That says more about the citizens than the council. Most voters apparently don’t care or are willfully ignorant of what the word “Ethics” means.
As you know, Jain has campaigned to exempt himself from the Brown Act and the Public Records Act.
Knowing what I know now, I would NEVER take legal advice from Brian Doyle who cost the City millions of dollars by fighting a CVRA lawsuit that no city had ever won. He failed to share a settlement offer letter with the Council. He gave me very poor advice when I was chair of the Charter Review committee. Easy to see why the Council lost confidence in him. And it seems that he just lost his lawsuit with prejudice against the City for “wrongful termination” https://www.svvoice.com/former-city-attorneys-wrongful-termination-lawsuit-against-the-city-flops/
Deanna Santana once told me that a former councilmember used to step out of closed session meetings to call labor groups when the council was in the middle of labor discussions. I wonder if Doyle knew about that and apparently didn’t do anything about it. Also we have Lisa Gillmor regularly failing to disclose communications in response to PRAs and screaming at Vickie Fairchild when she refused to disclose information from closed sessions.
I have not violated the law and have not been charged nor investigated. It seems Doyle has had a grudge against me from the first meeting with me when he falsely accused Raj Chahal of acting unethically : “has his hand in the cookie jar”. Doyle also lied when he said I stopped talking with him after I started having meetings with the 49ers as I often met with him on Tuesdays after my meetings with the 49ers.
Wow…
And to think this person was re-elected to office.
Wake me up, I’m sick of this nightmare.
Bottomline, both Kevin Park and Suds Jain got re-elected!
In Kevin Park’s own Court, he loses 7-1 any time a vote is taken. I heard over and over….”We hate him!”. It shocked me, and to be 64 years old, it’s not easy to shock me anymore.
In just 2 years we need to do a much better job at educating our neighbors. I had never walked door to door trying to advocate for any political candidate or political agenda.
What an eye opener it was for me. Many people are just not aware of what is happening right in our own Home Town.
In the end it was very effective. Kelly Cox did crush her opponents. But I should have known that was going to happen and spent more of my time helping Teresa, David or Satish.
The really good part of all of this is I did run into a lot of really great Santa Clara residents.
It wasn’t that tough, and honestly I just didn’t want to wake up to a City still going in the wrong direction…. oh well.
Just try to read Suds Jain’s comment again and tell me my fears were not well based in fact and not just fear.
Just so you all know, I never walked alone. Our Mayor, was out there with me every single Day…. and on some of the days it got really hot, easily 100 degrees ++.
Class of 78′ Buchser Bruins were well represented.
Thank You Mayor for leading by example. You were not just telling me what to do, you were actually showing me what to do.
No more committed form of Leadership exists.
Don’t tell me what to do…. show me what to do.
Burt Field
burt.field@gmail.com
Sudsy, you know nothing as evidenced by your statement, I was confused. Go fly a kite.
Suds – You have a standing meeting every Tuesday with the 49ers? Yikes!! I guess that’s who you see as your ‘constituents”.
Suds,
Your response to Brian Doyle is almost entirely whataboutism attacks on him and others. Your only defense of yourself is to say that you did not violate the law and have not been charged or investigated for a crime. Nobody thinks that you committed a crime.
What people think is that you violated your duties as a city councilperson because you knew that another city councilperson had committed crimes in the course of using his position to benefit a corporate special interest that often has competing financial interests with the people of this city. And you knew that this corporate special interest had spent millions of dollars to advance the political career of the city councilperson who had committed crimes to help them mount a preemptive public relations campaign against a civil grand jury report.
You should have reported Becker’s confession to Steve Ngo who you and others had entrusted to serve as the interim city attorney. Instead you decided to stay silent about a colleague’s corrupt crimes until you were subpoenaed and only when you were compelled to provide sworn testimony did you reveal the truth.
Your Trumplike attempts to shift the focus to the actions of others is more failure to take personal accountability for your lapse in ethical judgement. And that is what it is and your decision to not only cover up Becker’s crimes until you were compelled to stop is indicative of bad ethical judgement. So was your decision to not only cover up Becker’s crimes but to elevate him to the position of vice mayor.
I think you are an intelligent person who cares about this city. Unlike many of the regular commenters here I do not assume that you have tried to or thought you were selling out the city’s interests in exchange for the million dollars or so that the Forty Niners have spent to help get you into office and keep you there.
But shame on you for this. You chose to cover up the crimes of a political ally and your constituents deserved better from you on this matter.