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In her 11 years as Sacramento County district attorney, Jan Scully has cultivated a reputation as a no-nonsense law-and-order type. California taxpayers are about to find out if it's a reputation she deserves. In March, Attorney General Bill Lockyer – citing a conflict of interest – turned to Scully and asked her to review the First 5 California Children and Families Commission's use of $23 million for TV ads promoting “preschool for all” at the same time a “preschool for all” initiative was seeking placement on the ballot and voter support. State law makes it a felony to use public...

To live in California is to pay the highest state income tax rate in the nation, if you're wealthy enough. Last week, voters had a chance to raise that tax rate to new heights by approving Proposition 82. They declined. Did they figure that the Golden State's rich were already thoroughly soaked — or did 82, which would have funded universal preschool for 4-year-olds, just not present a convincing enough case? Nevada is right next door, after all, and it has no income tax, period. Proposition 82 would have raised California's top tax to 12% from 10.3%. Rodriguez sees a...

Despite Prop. 82's loss, director-activist says he'll continue to back liberal causes. LOS ANGELES -- After shutting himself off from the public for nearly three months, movie director and actor Rob Reiner stepped back into the spotlight election night and declared he wasn't leaving the political stage. Voters had just handed a resounding defeat to Proposition 82, the universal preschool initiative he'd championed. Reiner had been forced to step down from the chairmanship of the First 5 California commission because of criticism about its $23 million taxpayer-financed preschool advertising campaign. He'd gone into a self-imposed exile from the media in...

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...

The Nays Have It by Steve Voeller June 9, 2006 Preschool tax fails in California Every one has a breaking point when it comes to tax hikes. Tuesday, Californians soundly defeated a tax increase to pay for universal preschool. According to San Diego television station KFMB: "Proposition 82, the universal preschool measure, was also defeated, as 61 percent voted no compared to 39 percent that approved the measure. Proposition 82 would have spent $2.1 billion during the first year, increasing to $2.6 billion by 2010. The measure, conceived by actor Rob Reiner, would have provided hundreds of millions of dollars...

People of California Defeat Prop 82.. This week in California there was a special election for the House seat that was previously occupied by the disgraced Republican Duke Cunningham. It was somewhat newsworthy that the GOP held onto the seat, but what was even more newsworthy was the defeat of proposition 82. For some reason this is not getting the play it should. Proposition 82 was a bill to raise taxes on all Californians earning over 400,000 a year. It would have affected .6% of the people of California. The tax hike was proposed for the purpose of providing Universal...

California voters turned frugal Tuesday, turning down several state and local bonds and taxes -- and raising questions about prospects for $47 billion in state bonds proposed for the November ballot. The failed statewide ballot measures would have used $600 million in bonds to build and refurbish public libraries, and raised income taxes on wealthy Californians by $2.4 billion annually for preschools. Their demise could give pause to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democrat legislative leaders as they contemplate how to convince Californians to support the richest series of bond measures in the state's history. Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata,...

Universal preschool advocates vow to continue effortsBy Dana Hull Mercury News Advocates of universal preschool vowed today to continue their fight despite the crushing defeat of Proposition 82 in Tuesday's election. According to the final tally of ballots cast, 60.9 percent of voters statewide opposed Prop. 82 while just 39.1 percent supported it. The initiative, which needed a simple majority to pass, narrowly prevailed in just three of California's 58 counties: Alameda, Imperial, and San Francisco. In conservative Orange County, 73 percent of voters came out against it. ``It was a tough environment for initiatives,'' said Prop. 82 spokesman Nathan...

California voters soundly rejected Proposition 82 Tuesday, crushing the hopes of early childhood education advocates who hoped to make universal preschool public policy in the nation's most populous state. Throughout much of the evening, returns showed that 60 percent of voters statewide opposed Prop. 82 while just 40 percent supported it, making it nearly impossible for the measure to ever get the simple majority it needed to pass. ``It doesn't look good,'' admitted Hollywood director Rob Reiner, who spoke to about 200 supporters at a Los Angeles hotel ballroom shortly after 10 p.m... (see more at link)

California voters soundly rejected Proposition 82 on Tuesday, crushing the hopes of early-childhood education advocates who hoped to make universal preschool public policy in the nation's most populous state. ``Prop. 82 sounded really good, but the more I looked at it, the more I realized it was subject to shenanigans,'' said David Yomtov of San Jose, who said he voted against it. ``Kids should go to preschool, but it didn't sound like Prop. 82 would help the families who most needed the help.'' Proposition 82 enjoyed support in staunchly liberal enclaves like San Francisco, but it was overwhelmingly rejected in...

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...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Provide free preschool for all California children, tax the rich to pay for it, and get a famous Hollywood director to sell it. A measure on Tuesday's ballot to create universal preschool in the nation's most populous state seemed like a can't-miss idea in heavily Democratic California. But the $2.4 billion-a-year plan has been a tough sell. The Preschool for All initiative's best-known supporter, "When Harry Met Sally" director Rob Reiner, ducked out of the campaign spotlight this spring after a state education commission he headed was accused of improperly using taxpayer money to run TV commercials...

Ballot measure would expand programs by taxing richest Attending preschool for free would become a constitutional right for every 4-year-old in California if voters approve a June ballot initiative that could dramatically reshape the state's public education system. Called a key to improving the state's lagging schools by proponents and a colossal waste of money by opponents, passage of Proposition 82 would place the state in the forefront of a national movement toward standardizing pre-kindergarten education. Illinois, Georgia and Oklahoma already have implemented or are considering universal preschool programs. Most of California's half-million 4-year-olds attend some form of preschool or...

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,...

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....

With polls showing that his Prop. 82 universal preschool measure is carrying a narrow lead into the final days before the June 6 election, actor/director Rob Reiner put another $1.65 million of his own money into the campaign today. So far this year, Reiner already had spent better than $1.15 million on the campaign, which has also collected about $1.3 million from his wife, Michelle Singer Reiner, and $500,000 from his father, comedian Carl Reiner. Prop. 82, which would hike taxes on wealthy California residents to provide free preschool for all the state's 4-year-olds, had a 50 percent to 43...

Not quite 5 years old, Aniyah Slocum has plenty to report about her experience at the Richmond College Prep Preschool."I learned how to do the months of the year," she offers, clutching the turquoise marker she has been using to practice writing numerals. "I learned how to do puzzles, I learned my numbers and I learned my ABCs so my great-grandma can be proud of me."At programs like this one, serving one of the city's most impoverished flatland neighborhoods, teachers don't have to be convinced of preschool's role as an academic equalizer.From the slew of storybooks to the college banners...

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...