OAKLAND, Calif. -- Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley said that she has agreed to state Attorney General Jerry Brown's request that her office investigate the secret taping of conversations with reporters by Brown's former communications director.

O'Malley said she received Brown's request in a letter Monday.

"We will open an investigation," she said.

At issue are six conversations with five different reporters over a six-month period that were secretly recorded by Scott Gerber, Brown's aide.

Gerber resigned on Nov. 2, shortly after his practice of secretly taping reporters was disclosed.

In his letter to O'Malley, Brown said, "I am writing to invite your office to review the circumstances surrounding the recording of several telephone conversations with reporters by a former press aide."

Brown said Chief Assistant Attorney General Dane Gillette investigated the matter and concluded that no criminal laws were violated.

Brown told O'Malley, "While I fully stand by Gillette's investigation and report, I would welcome a review by your office."

Steven Baric, the chairman of the California Republican Lawyers Association, said his organization recently asked that the district's offices in both San Francisco and Alameda counties investigate the matter because the secret taping allegedly occurred in Brown's offices in San Francisco and Oakland.

Baric said the announcement that the Alameda County District Attorney's Office will investigate the matter is "a step in the right direction."

But he said, "One concern I have is that the Attorney General is investigating which agency conducts the investigation."

Baric said, "We're halfway there" because he still hopes that San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris will conduct a separate investigation.

He said he thinks Harris should investigate the matter because she has announced that she will run for Attorney General next year if Brown, who is a Democrat, runs for governor.

However, San Francisco District Attorney spokesman Brian Buckelew said today that, "Our role is muted" because "it wouldn't make sense to duplicate the efforts of the Alameda County district attorney" and have two investigations.

"We will stand down and let one jurisdiction do it," Buckelew said.

Baric said the California Republican Lawyers Association wants an outside probe because, "You can't have an office accused of wrongdoing do its own internal investigation."

He said an investigation "has to be independent."

In his report, which was released on Nov. 9, Gillette said four of the secretly taped recordings were interviews with Brown, one is an interview with Chief Deputy Attorney James Humes and Senior Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Renner and one was with Special Assistant Attorney General Jacob Applesmith.

Gillette said, "Gerber's actions were in clear violation of explicit instructions given to him by Humes and the Chief Deputy Attorney General not to record any telephone conversations without notice to the participants."

But Gillette said, "Under the circumstances, however, they do not warrant further investigation as a violation of the law."