San Jose’s new congressman tried to kill story to protect state speaker

In an anxious 30-second voicemail, Sam Liccardo urged a friend to kill a critical article related to California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas — warning it would “blow up in a really bad way” for himself and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan.

The voicemail from the former San Jose mayor and congressman-elect — left three days before Election Day — was for Jonathan Padilla, Liccardo’s former campaign staffer and longtime ally. Padilla requested a highly-controversial recount in Silicon Valley’s high-profile Congressional District 16 race that knocked one of Liccardo’s opponents off the ballot and handed him a win.

The two weren’t supposed to be talking.

For months Padilla and Liccardo have been under the microscope over allegations of secretly coordinating the recount. Padilla helped coordinate a committee to support Liccardo’s congressional campaign. Liccardo, who has now declared victory in the race, has denied any collusion. The committee was terminated before Liccardo called, but Padilla said he deliberately avoided contacting Liccardo — a friend for two decades — to avoid scrutiny.

But behind the scenes, Padilla was sounding the alarm about a physical confrontation with Rick Rivas, the brother of the most powerful man in the California Assembly — Speaker Robert Rivas.

Padilla was allegedly accosted by Rick Rivas at the Democratic National Convention in August after he refused to give up seats he held for himself and a Vietnam War veteran and his wife. Rick Rivas allegedly told Padilla that the Assembly speaker and his “entourage” were more important than party delegates like him, according to a complaint Padilla filed with the California Democratic Party. He allegedly knocked Padilla’s hat off a seat being held.

“I told him it doesn’t matter that you’re the speaker’s brother, I’m a delegate and I’ve been holding these seats for the past 30/40 minutes,” Padilla wrote in the complaint obtained by San José Spotlight. “I then put my hat back on the chair, he knocked it off again and threw his coat on the chair and then after I attempted to sit in that seat he tried also sit on the chair, sitting on me in the process.”

Padilla said he felt “very threatened” by Rick Rivas, who claimed to be acting on behalf of the Assembly speaker and labor leader Dolores Huerta. He also said Rick Rivas reeked of alcohol and kept disrupting the program to get more booze.

The state party declined to investigate Padilla’s complaint because it wasn’t based on a protected class such as race, gender or religion, prompting him to go to POLITICO to tell his story. It granted Padilla protection against retaliation.

Then three days before this week’s election, Padilla got a call.

“Hey JP, it’s Sam. I’m hoping you can call me when you have a chance having nothing to do with this campaign — having everything to do with this whole POLITICO story with Rick Rivas and everything. Look — I don’t love that guy either but this whole thing can blow up in a really bad way both for Matt and for me, in terms of the relationship with his brother, and I’m hoping I might be able to have a conversation with you about cooling it,” Liccardo tells Padilla in a voicemail reviewed by San José Spotlight.

Padilla was infuriated.

“I have a reputation to protect and want to be completely above board and Sam should not have called me,” Padilla told San José Spotlight. “And I think that shows how desperate the Rivas camp was to have Sam call me.”

He said his longtime friend and former boss should have defended him against Rick Rivas — instead of act as his intermediary.

“I’m deeply disappointed in what you asked me to do as Eric (Jaye), Jim (Reed), and Matt (Mahan) are aware,” Padilla wrote in a text to Liccardo, referring to the politician’s consultant, former chief of staff and Mayor Mahan. “The appropriate response to the Rivas team should have been, ‘Jonathan Padilla is one of my people, why the hell is Rick being an asshole.’”

A spokesperson for Liccardo said the former mayor understandably wanted to stay out of “a silly story about a dismissed and discredited complaint.”

“Sam was not at the DNC convention, and has publicly said he has no idea what did or didn’t happen.  He looks forward to staying focused on the federal issues that matter to San Mateo and Santa Clara (County) residents in Congress,” Gil Rubinstein told San José Spotlight.

‘Beef’ with the speaker

The voicemail cuts off after 30 seconds because Padilla picked up Liccardo’s call. Records show the ex-mayor had tried to reach him multiple times that Saturday. Their conversation is detailed in an email Padilla sent to John Trasviña, the Democratic Party’s ombudsperson for misconduct and harassment complaints.

Padilla said in the email that Liccardo told him during the call that the POLITICO story would be “horrible” for Liccardo and Mahan.

“Liccardo said that Rick Rivas would take it out on them and work to destroy any relationship that Liccardo and Mahan have with Speaker Rivas and the legislature. Liccardo also noted that the Speaker would have a ‘beef’ with me and would use the powers of his office to destroy me alongside himself (Liccardo) and Mahan,” Padilla wrote.

Robert Rivas, the Assembly speaker, endorsed Liccardo’s campaign for Congress.

Mahan, Liccardo’s successor and ally, was pulled into the fiasco because Padilla said Rick Rivas began trashing the mayor during the party convention for supporting Proposition 36, which ramps up criminal punishment for petty theft.

“He then continued to berate me and raised his voice to the point of yelling saying that Matt (Mahan) was a horrible person and that his brother the Speaker is working to try to fix crime issues,” Padilla’s complaint said.

Mahan did not respond to a request for comment.

The revelations come as Liccardo is crafting his congressional team after his opponent, Assemblymember Evan Low, conceded the race on Wednesday night.

For his part, Rick Rivas denied any wrongdoing through a spokesperson and claimed Padilla is looking to “disparage him.”

“Just like the original meritless complaint, there is absolutely no truth to this accusation. It is a fiction,” spokeswoman Elizabeth Ashford said.

Ashford shared statements from three people at the convention — including Huerta — who contradicted Padilla’s account of the events. “This complaint is clearly a fabricated political smear,” Huerta said.

Padilla said all he wants is an apology from the speaker for his brother’s erratic behavior at the conference — behavior that was confirmed by witnesses in the POLITICO story.

Ashford declined to say whether the Rivas brothers will apologize.

Story published Nov. 8 at 8:05 am.

Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.