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SACRAMENTO — A Santa Monica advertising firm that produced a tax-funded $23-million ad program touting the benefits of preschool settled a suit after one of its subcontractors made $2.5 million in payments, the firms have announced. GMMB Inc. alleged in a suit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in April that the subcontractor, Durazo Communications, failed to pay some television stations that aired the commercials, which were funded by the First 5 California Children and Families Commission. (snip) The suit attracted attention when Hector Ramirez, the commission's chairman, called on the Los Angeles Police Department and the state Bureau...

YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO rich or too thin, the saying goes, and it certainly holds true for California's June 6 primary. State Controller Steve Westly, a former eBay executive and Democratic candidate for governor, has spent $34.5 million of his own fortune in hopes of earning the right to face Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this fall. The other Democrat in the race, State Treasurer Phil Angelides, would certainly be out of the running by now but for a wealthy friend who spent $6 million on an "independent" expenditure to prop up his flagging campaign. As for the Governator, he's not...

SACRAMENTO – An initiative on the June 6 ballot that would give all 4-year-olds the right to attend preschool is casting California once again in the role of possible national trendsetter. A drive to give all children the chance to begin school a year before kindergarten, with the aim of helping them become better readers and learners later on, has begun in Oklahoma, Georgia and Florida. But Proposition 82 is much more ambitious and likely more controversial – not only because the program would be funded by $2 billion a year raised through increased taxes on upper-income Californians. The measure,...

ELECTION 2006 Unions threaten consumer boycott to dry up campaign contributions California labor groups warn national retailers: Oppose Reiner initiative, you'll be blackballed Union supporters of a California ballot measure promising "Preschool for All" have threatened several national retailers with a nationwide boycott if their companies or major shareholders make contributions to the opposition campaign. Representatives for the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic – major mall-based clothing retailers – were sent letters last week from the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees warning that a national action against all their stores...

SAN FRANCISCO Prop. 82 backers picket Gap store Backers of Proposition 82, which would offer free preschool to all California 4-year-olds, called for a boycott of Gap Inc. because of its owners' opposition to the June ballot measure. About two dozen Prop. 82 supporters set up a boisterous but peaceful picket outside the Gap's San Francisco flagship store at Powell and Market streets on Thursday. John Fisher, whose father is Gap founder Don Fisher and who manages the family's multibillion-dollar investment portfolio, gave $25,000 to the campaign opposed to Prop. 82. Family members also have contributed to business groups campaigning...

State contractor sues subcontractor; police and auditor notified. Sacramento -- Nearly $3 million in public money earmarked for pro-preschool commercials is missing, marking a weird twist in the controversy surrounding a move by a state commission headed until recently by director Rob Reiner to air the commercials while Reiner was working to get a preschool initiative on the ballot. The new head of the First 5 California Children and Families Commission and the commission's lead advertising firm acknowledged Thursday that $2.8 million owed to Spanish-language television stations for commercials aired last fall is unaccounted for. The firm, GMMB Inc., filed...

California's First 5 commission is investigating the apparent disappearance of nearly $3 million in tax money owed to television stations that aired its recent preschool ads, the commission chairman said today. Hector Ramirez, First 5 California Children and Families Commission chairman, also called on the Los Angeles Police Department and California Bureau of State Audits to find out what became of $2.8 million given to the Los Angeles public relations and advertising firm Durazo Communications. The firm was supposed to use the money to pay the TV stations. "What we're going to be doing is just conducting a full investigation...

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is opposing a June ballot initiative promoted by director Rob Reiner that would raise income taxes on the rich to pay for universal preschool, his campaign team said Wednesday. "Put simply, the governor does not support tax increases and is opposed to Proposition 82 because it will raise taxes," said his communications director, Katie Levinson. Until now, Schwarzenegger has avoided definitive statements on Proposition 82, an initiative that is similar to an after-school measure he spearheaded in 2002 for after-school programs. Voters approved that measure and it is set to be funded for the first...

New PPIC Survey: Prop. 82 Sinking Fast in Latest Poll In what can only be interpreted as very bad news for the Yes on 82 camp, a new Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) survey shows voter support for the measure has plummeted 14 percent since the last PPIC poll in January, while opposition grew 10 percent. According to the poll, 52 percent currently support the measure and 41 oppose. It’s clear that once educated with the facts, voters understand that Prop. 82 is not a vote for or against preschool. It’s a vote about whether Prop. 82 is the...

Complaining of "personal political attacks," Hollywood director Rob Reiner resigned Wednesday as chairman of a statewide preschool commission he helped create that's under scrutiny for $23 million in advertising spending. Just two weeks ago, Reiner dismissed suggestions that he should step down from the California First 5 Commission, which has collected nearly $4 billion in tobacco taxes to fund early childhood programs. "Everything I've done is completely legal," he said at the time. But Reiner called Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over the weekend and resigned, said Margita Thompson, a Schwarzenegger spokeswoman. In a letter to the governor Wednesday, Reiner said, "We...

Amidst continuing partisan furor, Hollywood producer Rob Reiner today resigned his seat on a state commission he helped found, and was replaced by another Democrat. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger praised Reiner's service while accepting the resignation, which Reiner two weeks ago said he would not submit. Schwarzenegger named Hector Ramirez, 38, of La Mirada, as Reiner's successor. Republican state senators had campaigned against the noted liberal Reiner, accusing him of abusing his position as chairman of the First 5 California Children and Families Commission to further passage of Proposition 82, an initiative on the June ballot that would create universal preschool....

Pro-preschool campaign well ahead in fundraising The campaign for Proposition 82, the Preschool for All Act, raised $2 million between Jan. 1 and March 17, according to campaign-finance records released this week. That's 10 times as much as the $196,000 raised by the ``No on 82'' campaign. The no campaign has $81,000 in remaining cash on hand; the pro-82 campaign, $1.6 million. Rob Reiner, who at nearly $657,000 is the campaign's biggest donor, has also become the focal point for its opposition. Much of the controversy surrounds conflict-of-interest charges stemming from Reiner's role as chair of a state commission, First...

The facts are not in dispute: At the same time Rob Reiner, the chairman of the state's First 5 Commission, was pushing to qualify his “preschool for all” initiative for the June ballot, the commission spent $23 million on a “preschool for all” ad campaign. Whether or not it was criminal, this use of taxpayer money for Reiner's private political crusade is outrageous and grossly unethical. Yet Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told The Fresno Bee that he will stand by his “friend” because he is “innocent until proven guilty” and questioned whether there was indeed evidence of wrongdoing. He rejected a...

Rob Reiner claims that opponents of Proposition 82, his ballot initiative for universal government-run preschool in California, are making him the issue because they are incapable of arguing against the measure on its merits. In recent days, Reiner has become the issue, but for reasons related to his first political production. The child of show-biz magnate Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner made his television debut as a motorcycle hood in a "Partridge Family" episode in 1970. The following year, Norman Lear cast him as the verbose liberal Michael Stivik in "All in the Family." His fame secured, Reiner went on to...

LOS ANGELES - Defying Senate Republicans' wishes, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday said he would not replace director Rob Reiner from the chairmanship of the state agency First 5 California. The governor told the Fresno Bee's editorial board that he was standing by his "friend" Reiner until there is evidence of wrongdoing. "Innocent until proven guilty," Schwarzenegger said. Senate Republicans had asked the governor to replace Reiner in the chairman's job because the agency spent $23 million in tax dollars on an ad campaign promoting preschool while Reiner was qualifying a universal preschool initiative - Proposition 82 - for the...

It is remarkable how a committee of so many well-intentioned people can produce a disaster as uniformly flawed as Proposition 82, the "PreSchool for All" ballot measure on this November's California ballot. If there is fault to be found -- and there is -- it rests squarely on the shoulders of Proposition 82's huckster-in-chief Rob Reiner. While no one can deny Reiner's commitment to his utopian schemes, like many who presume to know what's best for the rest of us, Reiner has scarcely encountered a corner he hasn't cut. To date, he stands accused of: 1) Funnelling $23 million of...

During an editorial board meeting with The Fresno Bee today, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he won't fire Democratic activist Rob Reiner, a director and fellow actor, as chairman of the California Children and Families Commission. Reiner has taken a leave of absence from the First Five Commission after reports of questionable spending under his tenure. He 's pushing Proposition 82, the universal preschool initiative on the June ballot. The commission reportedly used $23 million in tax dollars for advertisements supporting universal preschool while Reiner was collecting signatures to get his preschool initiative on the ballot. Schwarzenegger said there is only...

Reporters Grill Reiner Over First 5 Preschool Ad Spending Written for the web by C. Johnson, Internet News Producer Film director and children's activist Rob Reiner defended himself Tuesday over the alleged misuse of taxpayer money to promote his universal preschool initiative. Answering reporter questions today at the Sacramento Press Club, Reiner said neither he nor the First 5 Children and Families Commission has done anything wrong. "We've been audited every year," he said. "We've been audited seven or eight times. Clean bill of health every time. Contracting is clean as a whistle. Everything we've done has been above board."...

BEVERLY HILLS - Facing a state audit and possible criminal investigation of the state commission he chaired, movie director Rob Reiner on Monday said his opponents are targeting him for attacks to avoid discussing the merits of the universal preschool initiative he put on the June ballot. "They will do whatever it takes to knock this thing out," he said in an interview with The Bee. "So they will attack me because they know they can't talk about the initiative." Opponents responded that they have discussed the shortcomings of Proposition 82, including their argument that raising taxes on the wealthy...

Legislators have decided to launch a formal audit of the spending practices of the state commission led by actor/director Rob Reiner, in the wake of news stories examining whether the commission spent taxpayer dollars for an ad campaign that promoted Reiner's political efforts at universal preschool programs. The audit, which officials say could take 4 or 5 months, was approved this afternoon by the Joint Legislative Audit Commitee. Reiner, the driving force behind June's Proposition 82 to create taxpayer-funded preschool for all children, has served for several years as the chairman of the state First 5 Commission, which focuses on...