Posted on 05/26/2006 8:02:38 AM PDT by SmithL
Actor-director Rob Reiner on Thursday wrote a $1.65 million check to boost the closing campaign for Proposition 82, his initiative to tax wealthy residents to pay for free preschool.
Reiner's donation pushes his total contributions to the campaign to $2.8 million. His wife, photographer Michelle Singer Reiner, has donated $1.3 million to the initiative, and his father, writer-comedian Carl Reiner, has contributed $500,000.
Meanwhile, Democratic gubernatorial candidates Steve Westly and Phil Angelides are both opening their wallets to give their campaigns new infusions of cash, according to announcements by the campaigns and reports filed with the secretary of state's office.
The Westly camp said the former eBay executive had pumped another $2 million into his gubernatorial campaign, bringing his personal contributions to $34.5 million for the primary race.
Meanwhile, the Angelides campaign said he wrote checks totaling $1.5 million to his campaign this week, the first major donations of his own money to the race.
Reiner's late contribution on behalf of Proposition 82 came as backers for the initiative were beginning to run out of money for the closing weeks of their campaign. Before his latest check, the Yes on 82 campaign had $388,000 in cash on hand after raising $8.5 million since January and $2.4 million in 2005.
"Rob is one of the co-chairs of the campaign, and he is certainly committed to Proposition 82 passing," said Nathan James, a spokesman for the Yes On 82 campaign. "But the initiative is supported by a broad group of people who care about our schools and giving every child access to preschool."
Proposition 82 seeks to establish a universal preschool system in California for 4-year-olds, funded by an income tax hike on individuals making more than $400,000 a year and couples earning more than $800,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
instead of writing those big checks for advertising, why didn't they just give it to the pre-schools? huh?
I'm amazed that these three have that much extra cash.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.