SACRAMENTO — The communications director for California Attorney General Jerry Brown resigned Monday after it was revealed he had secretly recorded telephone conversations with reporters.

Scott Gerber, 33, wrote in his resignation letter that he let down the attorney general’s office and himself when he recorded phone interviews with reporters without seeking their permission. “My purpose wasn’t to play gotcha but simply to have an accurate record of official, on-the-record statements on matters of public concern,” Gerber wrote. “It is clear now I made serious errors in judgment.”

California is one of 12 states that require notification of all parties before a phone call is taped.

Gerber’s letter was addressed to Chief Deputy Attorney General James Humes. Humes and Jonathan Renner, a senior assistant attorney general, were being interviewed by a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle during a call Gerber said he recorded.

The attorney general’s office has said Humes and Renner did not know the conversation was being recorded without the reporter’s knowledge.

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.

Gerber, who worked for Brown for about a year, said in his letter that neither Brown nor any other attorneys in the office knew he was recording the calls without permission.

He apologized to the attorney general and to the “few reporters in the calls” he taped, saying they probably would have agreed to let him tape the calls had he asked.

Brown’s office is still investigating how many other calls were recorded and intends to notify any other reporters involved, press secretary Christine Gasparac said.

Brown, a Democrat and former California governor, has formed a committee to explore a possible run for governor next year.