Secret Taping Costs AG Worker His Job
By LORI PREUITT and JACKSON WEST
Updated 8:24 PM PST, Mon, Nov 2, 2009
Secretly taped conversations between California Attorney General Jerry Brown and a reporter with the San Francisco Chronicle has cost the man who did the taping his job.
Scott Gerber was a spokesperson for Attorney General Jerry Brown's office. He admitted to secretly taping phone calls between Brown and political reporter Carla Marinucci.
In Gerber's resignation letter, dated today, he admits to "errors in judgement." Read complete letter (pdf).
"I should have asked reporters for permission to record, and I should have followed the guidance you provided," Gerber said in his letter to Brown.
The taped conversation with Marinucci was an interview she had with Brown where the two discussed allegations that Brown changed the language on a ballot measure to benefit a campaign donor.
In California, it is illegal to record a conversation unless everyone knows it is being recorded and they have consented to the taping, something you might think an Attorney General might know. It was not immediately clear if the Chronicle intended to press any formal charges.
Gerber also admitted this was not the first time he secretly recorded calls with reporters.
Brown accepted his resignation and had no further comment, according to a still-employed press secretary in his office.
First Published: Nov 2, 2009 3:48 PM PST
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