LA Times rips Reiner, First 5 a new one

Halfway to Concord ^ | 2/23/6

[SmithL]

Los Angeles Times: “Accountability for beginners”

“When Californians approved Proposition 10 eight years ago by a margin of exactly one percentage point, they agreed to tax cigarettes a half dollar a pack to fund a variety of children’s programs.

“What they probably didn’t realize is that they also created an unelected government agency controlled by Rob Reiner, and that he would spend their millions, against the spirit if not the letter of the law, on campaign propaganda aimed at influencing their votes.

“As detailed Monday by Times staff writer Dan Morain, Reiner’s First 5 California Children and Families Commission, which is appointed by the governor to disburse 20 percent of the Proposition 10 funds, doled out a whopping $23 million from November to January to promote the idea of “preschool for all.

“Those happen to be the same three words Reiner uses to describe his latest initiative, Proposition 82, which will raise the income tax on wealthy Californians to pay for - that’s right - universal preschool. This despite California law prohibiting tax money being spent on campaign advertising. Defenders of the campaign say that as long as the spots don’t tell people how to vote, they’re informative, not political.

“Uh-huh.

“Government, as Reiner is coming to find out, has a different set of transparency standards from Hollywood. If he or any other commissioners are uncomfortable abiding by them, they are free to step aside.

“And make no mistake - spending taxpayer money on PR aimed at swaying votes is a gross misuse of funds, even if it comes from icky smokers. The Fair Political Practices Commission should be aggressive in determining whether First 5 broke the law. And handing out hundreds of millions of dollar to a handful of friendly ad agencies suggests, at minimum, a carelessness deserving more scrutiny.

“If Reiner expects the public to cough up another tax at the ballot box this June, he may want to become more comfortable with the idea that with government power comes real accountability. And voters may want to take a more skeptical look at the First 5 program before they decide whether to give their approval to Reiner’s latest brainchild.”

[Alia]

Nope, I don't mind at all observing Reiner getting some long-overdue slam-ball. Also, I seem to recall, his other "collected monies" went to funding Preschool for those living in his area of "domicile". SF has recently pulled a similar stunt of "obscuring facts" from the taxpayer

[backhoe]

I just ran across this info on a blog:

http://eddriscoll.com/archives/008658.php

Excerpt:

"How To Succeed In Movies Without Really Trying
By Ed Driscoll · February 23, 2006 02:03 PM · Hollywood, Interrupted

There's a curious flip-over that occurs in any celebrity's career when he or she comes out as a member of the left. On the one hand, the fullblown brass ring of Schwarzenegger/Bruce Willis/Mel Gibson-level megastardom becomes much more difficult to obtain, because you've given audiences in red state middle America a great reason to avoid your movies. On the other, your career is set: you'll never not each lunch in this town again, to mangle the title of the late Julia Phillips' famous tell-all.

Take for example, Rob Reiner, whom Hugh Hewitt has been hamering all week."

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Be sure to follow all the links at the site to get the full, unflattering story about Meathead...

[hosepipe]

Pre-school in federally controlled schools will just dumb the kids down faster and more thoughly.. so they can be brain washed easier..