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Brown’s communications chief quits

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Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown’s communications’ chief resigned Monday after admitting he had tape-recorded interviews with news reporters without their knowledge or consent.

Scott Gerber, Brown’s spokesman, delivered his resignation letter by hand. He said the taping was not intended as a “gotcha” but rather as a way to ensure on-the-record comments were reported accurately.

A state law prohibits the taping of telephone conversations without consent if one or more of the parties reasonably expected the conversation to be private.

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Gerber said he made “serious errors in judgment” and apologized to Brown and to the “few” reporters whose interviews he surreptitiously recorded.

“The errors were mine alone -- neither the attorney general nor any other attorneys from our office were aware that I was recording interviews without permission,” Gerber wrote.

The attorney general’s office on Friday began notifying reporters who were taped. Among them was Los Angeles Times staff writer David Sarno. A spokeswoman for Brown told Sarno that Gerber may have tape-recorded an interview Sarno had with Brown in May. Sarno said Gerber had not informed him the call was recorded.

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The taping was discovered after Gerber gave an editor at the San Francisco Chronicle a transcript of an interview that a Chronicle reporter conducted over the telephone.

The reporter said she did not know Gerber was taping at the time.

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maura.dolan@latimes.com

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