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ROLLING MEADOWS, IL - Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed legislation Tuesday that makes every 3- and 4-year-old in Illinois eligible for state-subsidized preschool. The catch: There's money for only about 10,000 of the neediest children, at least for now. Blagojevich activated the $45 million first phase of his "Preschool for All" program surrounded by childhood-development advocates and lawmakers who helped move the measure through the General Assembly. The measure's proponents say broadening access to preschool will pay dividends in the future. "It's those precious years between 3 and 5 when kids learn the most," Blagojevich said during a news conference at...

Welcome to the live thread for the California Primary Election. Polls are open until 8pm tonight. If you are a registered voter, it is your duty to vote and defend your rights and civil liberties, protect your pocketbook, and vote the bums out where applicable. Feel free to discuss issues key to your local area that others may be interested in. Post your polling place experiences if you like. And post numbers as they come in later tonight.

Preschool measure tumbles in poll By Dana Hull Mercury News Support for Proposition 82, California's Preschool for All Act, has plummeted, according to a Field Poll released Friday, and political analysts say the measure appears extremely vulnerable in the final days of the fiercely fought campaign. Forty-six percent of likely voters plan to vote against the initiative, while 41 percent favor it, found the poll, which was taken May 23-31. That's a significant plunge from polls conducted in February and April, when supporters held double-digit leads over opponents. With momentum building behind a ``No'' campaign fueled by concerns about the...

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,...

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...

The contentious relationship between supporters of Proposition 82 and the June state ballot measure's opponents played out Tuesday when campaign backers crashed a press conference organized by a UC Berkeley think tank. Policy Analysis for California Education called the teleconference to explain its new study of the proposal to tax the wealthiest Californians to provide free preschool for all 4-year-olds. The study questions whether the plan will put existing schools out of business and benefit more families that can already afford to pay for preschool. UC Berkeley Professor Bruce Fuller, who leads the think tank, has become a lightning rod...

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....

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...

Why hasn’t Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced controversial movie director/initiative promoter Rob Reiner as chairman of the California Children and Families Commission? That’s the question that has many, especially Schwarzenegger’s fellow Republicans, perplexed. Reiner has stepped away, taken a “leave of absence” from his post at the so-called “First Five Commission” in the wake of revelations about its highly questionable spending practices under his leadership. But he intends to return to the chairmanship after his Proposition 82 universal preschool initiative is voted on in June, even though his term in office expired in 2004. Many Republicans thought they understood Schwarzenegger’s motivation...

The controversial preschool-for-all ad campaign paid for with public funds and timed to coincide with the unveiling of Rob Reiner’s universal preschool initiative had its roots in a 2002 memorandum that laid out a detailed strategy for changing the public’s mind on the issue. The memo, which you can see in pdf form here [link on page], was prepared by GMMB, the same ad firm whose principals have close ties to Reiner and created the $23 million campaign that began airing late last year just as Reiner and his allies began to seek signatures for the initiative that will appear...

Attorney General Supports Poochigian’s Request for Review of First 5 Commission’s Use of Taxpayer Funds Citing Conflict, Lockyer Refers Investigation to Sacramento County District Attorney “Attorney General Bill Lockyer has acknowledged that allegations that the First 5 Commission may have misused taxpayer funds in connection with campaign advertising for Proposition 82 warrant a prompt review. Although the Attorney General’s office has investigated and prosecuted other state entities and officers in the past, he has decided to refer this case. I believe that Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully will fully investigate the matter and, if warranted, prosecute any civil or...

Actor-director Rob Reiner is taking a lot of well-deserved media and political heat - from politicians in both parties, for a change - over a lavish promotional program for preschool education financed by tobacco tax money that is controlled by a commission he heads. Although Reiner and the First 5 California Children and Families Commission insist that he didn't play a direct role, it's perfectly clear that the commission was using public money to boost a Reiner initiative to tax the wealthy for preschool programs. Reiner temporarily stepped down from the chairmanship last week as political and media criticism mounted,...

Strickland Files “Public Documents” Request for Reiner Documents “The public has a right to know how their money is being spent” (Sacramento) – Taxpayer Advocate Tony Strickland has filed a request pursuant to the California Public Records Act for all documents surrounding the decision of a California commission to funnel millions in public funds into a television advertising campaign that may have been designed to boost an initiative petition being circulated by a member of the commission. The Sacramento Bee broke the story in December, with a more recent Los Angeles Times story highlighting the fact that more than $23...

Actor-director Rob Reiner is taking a lot of well deserved media and political heat--from politicians in both parties, for a change--over a lavish promotional program for preschool education financed by tobacco tax money controlled by a commission he heads. Although Reiner and the First 5 California Children and Families Commission insist that he didn't play a direct role, it's perfectly clear that the commission was using public money to boost a Reiner initiative to tax the wealthy for preschool programs. (snip) The bigger issue is the emerging syndrome of wealthy Californians pursuing their pet causes through the initiative process, spending...

Governor Must Immediately Replace Reiner Strickland: “Controller needs to freeze Reiner funding and conduct immediate accountability audit” Sacramento, CA– Taxpayer Advocate Tony Strickland today called upon Governor Schwarzenegger to “immediately replace Rob Reiner on the First 5 California Children and Families Commission. His term has expired and nothing prevents the Governor from selecting an appointee who will restore the transparency and credibility to taxpayers when it comes to how government spends their tax dollars.” The firestorm of controversy has continued unabated since a Los Angeles Times story on Monday exposed a series of abuses orchestrated by Reiner and a small...

SACRAMENTO — Police sirens wail as a scruffy teenager, clutching a bag, runs frantically through the streets. Entering a schoolyard, he reaches into the bag. Out comes … a graduation gown, which he dons to receive a diploma. The scene is from a television ad, paid for with tax money and made by consultants close to Hollywood producer Rob Reiner. It aired across California this winter, touting the benefits of preschool. "When kids go," the narrator says, "we all benefit." The release of the ad, and two others, by a state commission Reiner heads coincided with his launch of a...