Calif. Attorney General Jerry Brown attempts to dismiss illegal phone recordings

Stewart A. Alexander
For California Governor
Peace and Freedom Party 2010
www.peaceandfreedom.org/home/

November 13, 2009

Stewart Alexander, a candidate for California Governor, says California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger should launch an independent investigation of the illegal telephone recordings that occurred by the communications director of California Attorney General Jerry Brown.

Recently, it was discovered that Jerry Brown’s communications director Scott Gerber, had been secretly recording phone conversations with reporters which is a violation of California law. When Mr. Gerber was questioned about the recordings, he acknowledged taping a phone interview with a San Francisco Chronicle reporter and admitted taping other reporters without their knowledge or permission.

Alexander says there is now an apparent effort by A.G. Jerry Brown’s office to quash this issue and sweep the matter under the rug. Chief Deputy Attorney General Jim Humes and Jonathan Renner, a senior assistant attorney general, issued a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle; the Chronicle reported Humes as saying: “In the future, Mr. Gerber will not tape any conversations unless all parties agree.” Mr. Gerber has since resigned his position.

Since the revelation of the telephone recordings, Jerry Brown’s office launched an internal investigation and concluded that Scott Gerber did not break state law when he recorded five reporters without asking for consent.

Stewart Alexander is charging that this is a criminal cover-up at the highest levels of California government; Alexander says, “It is now the responsibility of Governor Schwarzenegger to launch an investigation into this matter to ease public concerns that it is not a cover-up by the attorney general’s office. California state law says anyone who “aids and abets” the violation also can be subject to punishment, which includes a fine up to $2,500 and a year in jail for the first offense.

On Tuesday, it was reported that the California Republicans Lawyers Association called for an independent investigation into the matter by Alameda and San Francisco Counties’ district attorneys.

Alexander notes; “At the time when these illegal phone recordings came to public awareness, A.G. Jerry Brown had the opportunity to take the appropriate measures in accordance with California law; however, Brown chose to sweep the matter under the rug. Now, due to his actions, Jerry Brown is on the wrong side of a criminal investigation.”

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