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Reporting from Sacramento -
State Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown's office closed its inquiry into the unauthorized tape recording of his and some staff members' conversations with reporters, saying the tapings were done only by a rogue lieutenant who quit after his actions were revealed.
The findings, released Monday evening, follow former communications director Scott Gerber's acknowledgment that he secretly taped interviews with reporters from The Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Associated Press that were conducted with Brown and other justice officials.
Interview topics included Brown's political outlook, his solicitation of charitable donations from companies with business before his office and his actions in the Anna Nicole Smith drug case.
The taping came to light when Gerber took issue with a report in the Chronicle about Brown's handling of a proposed ballot initiative. In arguing his case, he sent the paper a transcript of its reporter's conversation with justice officials, which he had clearly drafted using a tape of the interview.
The investigation, undertaken by Chief Assistant Atty. Gen. Dane R. Gillette, said Gerber had been instructed by attorneys in the office not to record any conversations without permission from all parties involved -- but Gerber continued to make the tapes. Gillette's report says Gerber asked other officials in the press office to make unauthorized recordings but they declined. It does not appear from the report that any of the other staffers reported Gerber's actions to superiors.
Brown and the attorneys on his staff, according to the report, were unaware Gerber was making the tapes.
Despite state laws that bar the recording of "confidential communication" without consent of all parties, the investigation concluded Gerber broke no laws. "An 'on the record' interview with a news reporter is the antithesis of a 'confidential communication,' " Gillette wrote.
The taping incidents, however, created controversy for Brown, the Democratic front-runner -- albeit unannounced -- in the upcoming governor's race. Political opponents compared the tapings by Brown's office to the tapings in Richard Nixon's White House in the 1970s.
Along with the investigation findings, Brown's office on Monday released transcripts and tapes of the interviews Gerber recorded. The materials offered an unvarnished look at Brown's interactions with reporters as he jumped from bragging about his exploits in the 1970s to expressing insecurity about whether he would get enough ink in a story to lecturing a reporter about his questions on Brown's fundraising for schools serving disadvantaged students in Oakland.
"That's the luxury you have!" Brown said to a Times reporter who asked about the fundraising. "I can tell you're a nice middle-class kid, you're not in the ghetto. Do you know they have murders in this state? . . . This is life and death! I think you ought to be aware of that."
In an interview with the Associated Press, Brown responded to comparisons between his potential run for governor and Hillary Clinton's bid for the White House by listing all the reasons he is more interesting than she.
"She doesn't have the scope," Brown said. "She didn't work with Mother Teresa. She didn't spend six months working in a Zen Buddhism [monastery]. She didn't take Linda Ronstadt to Africa. She didn't have her own astronaut. I had Rusty Schweickart, an astronaut. I put him on the state energy commission."
In another Associated Press interview about the Anna Nicole Smith case, Brown expressed concern about whether his comments would appear prominently in the reporter's story.
"Did I respond enough, you think? . . . Play with it, and if you need any more rhetorical fusillade, call me, will ya?"
evan.halper@latimes.com
The findings, released Monday evening, follow former communications director Scott Gerber's acknowledgment that he secretly taped interviews with reporters from The Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Associated Press that were conducted with Brown and other justice officials.
Interview topics included Brown's political outlook, his solicitation of charitable donations from companies with business before his office and his actions in the Anna Nicole Smith drug case.
The taping came to light when Gerber took issue with a report in the Chronicle about Brown's handling of a proposed ballot initiative. In arguing his case, he sent the paper a transcript of its reporter's conversation with justice officials, which he had clearly drafted using a tape of the interview.
The investigation, undertaken by Chief Assistant Atty. Gen. Dane R. Gillette, said Gerber had been instructed by attorneys in the office not to record any conversations without permission from all parties involved -- but Gerber continued to make the tapes. Gillette's report says Gerber asked other officials in the press office to make unauthorized recordings but they declined. It does not appear from the report that any of the other staffers reported Gerber's actions to superiors.
Brown and the attorneys on his staff, according to the report, were unaware Gerber was making the tapes.
Despite state laws that bar the recording of "confidential communication" without consent of all parties, the investigation concluded Gerber broke no laws. "An 'on the record' interview with a news reporter is the antithesis of a 'confidential communication,' " Gillette wrote.
The taping incidents, however, created controversy for Brown, the Democratic front-runner -- albeit unannounced -- in the upcoming governor's race. Political opponents compared the tapings by Brown's office to the tapings in Richard Nixon's White House in the 1970s.
Along with the investigation findings, Brown's office on Monday released transcripts and tapes of the interviews Gerber recorded. The materials offered an unvarnished look at Brown's interactions with reporters as he jumped from bragging about his exploits in the 1970s to expressing insecurity about whether he would get enough ink in a story to lecturing a reporter about his questions on Brown's fundraising for schools serving disadvantaged students in Oakland.
"That's the luxury you have!" Brown said to a Times reporter who asked about the fundraising. "I can tell you're a nice middle-class kid, you're not in the ghetto. Do you know they have murders in this state? . . . This is life and death! I think you ought to be aware of that."
In an interview with the Associated Press, Brown responded to comparisons between his potential run for governor and Hillary Clinton's bid for the White House by listing all the reasons he is more interesting than she.
"She doesn't have the scope," Brown said. "She didn't work with Mother Teresa. She didn't spend six months working in a Zen Buddhism [monastery]. She didn't take Linda Ronstadt to Africa. She didn't have her own astronaut. I had Rusty Schweickart, an astronaut. I put him on the state energy commission."
In another Associated Press interview about the Anna Nicole Smith case, Brown expressed concern about whether his comments would appear prominently in the reporter's story.
"Did I respond enough, you think? . . . Play with it, and if you need any more rhetorical fusillade, call me, will ya?"
evan.halper@latimes.com
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