A spokesman for Attorney General Jerry Brown acknowledged Thursday that he taped a phone conversation with a reporter for The Chronicle this week without disclosing the fact or asking permission – and admitted he has taped conversations with other news reporters.

Meanwhile, another veteran California politics observer, Bill Bradley, says the media got it wrong in speculating that a Bill Clinton-Jerry Brown feud led to Clinton’s endorsement of Newsom:

“Obviously, it’s troubling whenever someone is recording a phone call without your knowledge, particularly a person in that position — of being in the attorney general’s office,” Chronicle Managing Editor Stephen Proctor said.

“Here’s the implication: Reporters now have one hell of a story about a guy who’s running for governor of California,” said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, based in Virginia. “He’s just lit a fire under a real big political thing.”

… “California law says all parties to a conversation must know they are being taped,” she said. “So if one person didn’t (know), it’s a violation of the law, and it doesn’t matter that it’s the AG’s office doing the taping.”

Jennifer Siebel’s husband – Gavin Newsom dropped his bid for California governor on Friday.

“With a young family and responsibilities at city hall, I have found it impossible to commit the time required to complete this effort the way it needs to — and should be — done,” Newsom said in a statement. “This is not an easy decision. But it is one made with the best intentions for my wife, my daughter, the residents of the city and county of San Francisco, and California Democrats.”

“Mayor Newsom is a talented public official and I believe he has a bright future,” Jerry Brown , who is an ex-governor and former presidential hopeful, 71, said in a statement. “I am sure this was not an easy decision.”

Newsom, 42, was first elected in 2003. In 2007, he was re-elected with 74 percent of the vote. After winning re-election later that year, he seemed to catch a second wind in office. Last year, he married actress Jennifer Siebel, who gave birth to the couple’s first child, a daughter, last month.