Posted on 03/14/2006 6:22:23 PM PST by ChessMan
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."
Reiner last month temporarily stepped down as chair of the commission, a state panel that uses tobacco tax revenues to fund early childhood development programs. At issue is First 5's $23 million expenditure for television advertising promoting Reiner's "Preschool for All" at the same time he was qualifying the initiative for the June Primary ballot.
Reiner said the ads did not ask people to vote one way or another on Proposition 82. He also said he recused himself from the preschool ad expenditure decisions.
Others say any use of taxpayer dollars for campaigning is against the law. "These are our taxpayer dollars and they're being spent to push an initiative and it very well could have been illegal in this case," said Ned Wigglesworth of The Rest of Us.org, a taxpayer watchdog group.
One lawmaker, St. Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks is calling for Reiner's resignation or wants Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to remove him.
When Reiner stepped down from his First 5 post, he said he would not return until after the June election.
Last week, a group of bipartisan legislators approved a state investigation into First 5's campaign expenditures. The Sacramento County District Attorney's Office has been also been asked to conduct a review.
http://www.kxtv.com/storyfull2.aspx?storyid=16467
An early poll released showed Prop 82 leading, but of course the NO's always rise once those talking points are out and people understand the dangers and alterior motives for this initiative.
Plus we have Reiner on the defensive over the improprieties concerning putting this initiative on the ballot. This will be tainted like rotten meat(head) in the eyes of many voters and we shall defeat this.
We shall overcome. :-)
Thanks.
I'm doing the same thing with mine.
Liberals dipping in the till is not illegal. It is an entitlement.
Reiner's motives are all that matter. In other words, the ends justify the means. Hmm, where have we heard that before? Hint: Hillary..."We're going to take some things away from you for the common good." See also Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Castro, etc..
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