City Councilmember Anthony Becker submitted a letter of resignation on Friday, Dec. 6, effective immediately.
View Mr. Becker’s letter of resignation.
The circumstances surrounding Mr. Becker’s resignation relate to a recent criminal trial and conviction, which was announced yesterday, December 5, 2024.
Criminal convictions of elected officials are governed by Government Code Section 1770. The City has no additional local rules governing these circumstances. His resignation today formally vacates the 4-year term to represent District 6 in the City of Santa Clara that he was elected to in November 2020.
Becker unsuccessfully ran for re-election in the recent November election. The District 6 Council seat will be vacant until December 17, 2024 when the newly elected District 6 Councilmember will be sworn in.
It would not have mattered if he had insisted on completing his term given that it was about to expire but I am glad that he finally resigned and wish that he had done it as soon as he understood that he made it obvious that he illegally leaked the grand jury report. If he had done so he would not have lied under oath and we would have been spared this sideshow carnival and he would have been able to continue life with only a misdemeanor conviction and probably not even that. The city also would have been spared having a city councilperson vote on financial matters about a corporate special interest that he committed crimes to help and this obviously being because they spent millions of dollars to get him into that office to begin with.
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It is horrifying to think that we had someone so immature and reckless on our city council just like it is horrifying to think that we had someone as immoral as Dominic Caserta before him. Anthony Becker was not fit to sit on our city council from the start and he proved his unworthiness beyond any doubt. It is alarming to think that this publication carried water for him for so long and endorsed him to be get on council and to become our mayor. Imagine how much worse this would be for the image of the city if a current mayor of the city were convicted of corruption and perjury.