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Rob Reiner's Ads Use Taxpayer Funds
Opponents of actor-director Rob Reiner’s $2.3 billion universal preschool initiative in California say a series of "public service announcements” are in fact taxpayer-funded ads for the measure. The foes complain that Reiner not only leads the initiative campaign, but also chairs the state commission that is paying for the ads – which carry the message that preschool is good for society at large, the Sacramento Bee reports. "It’s a matter of sheer common sense – this is an expenditure of taxpayer dollars promoting preschool,” Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, told the Bee. "It’s clearly connected to the pending initiative, and as a matter of ethics it crosses the line. Whether it crosses the legal line remains to be seen.”
Story Continues Below Under state law, publicly funded agencies cannot engage in political activities. Reiner’s ballot initiative would increase income taxes for the state’s top one percent of earners to pay for preschool for any child in the state whose parents want it. Reiner, a champion of liberal causes, serves as co-chairman of the Preschool for All initiative and chairman of the First 5 California Commission. The state’s First 5 commission was established after voters in 1998 approved a ballot initiative that imposed a 50-cents-per-pack tax increase on cigarettes to improve the development of children from the prenatal stage through the first five years of life. The First 5 commission’s $18 million campaign includes radio and TV spots and newspaper advertisements.
The ads rely heavily on a recent study suggesting that every dollar spent on preschool leads to a $2.62 return in savings on education, crime reduction and social services, according to the Bee. The ads will stop when the preschool initiative qualifies for the June election, said Kris Perry, First 5 executive director. Perry believes that while the commission is not obligated to stop running the ads when the measure qualifies, "we wouldn’t want to present even the perception of a conflict.” But Coupal fears the ads could provide a lead-in to the ballot initiative campaign. "They intend to have a seamless transition from this ostensibly informational activity right into a political campaign,” Coupal said of the First 5 commission’s plans to stop running the ads when the measure qualifies. "This seems to me a remarkable admission that they have an overall game plan.”
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