Reiner Controversy Continues to Grow

USA TODAY ran a story today about the growing controversy in California over Rob Reiner's state commission spending public funds for his personal political project, the Proposition 82 "universal preschool" initiative. According to the paper, Reiner will hold a press conference today.

As Dan Walters recently noted in the Sacramento Bee, other prominent state officials have been forced to leave office for similar transgressions.

The Orange County Register carried an update on the investigation on their editorial page Monday.

The Bee's Daniel Weintraub published detailed info last week about Reiner's ad firm's pro-preschool strategy, which stated that the "goal for white men should be acquiescence, not activism." Can you imagine if that document said "black men" in such dismissive terms? Reiner would already be out of office.

Update: The Sacramento Bee reports that Reiner is lashing out at his critics: "Facing a state audit and possible criminal investigation of the state commission he chaired, movie director Rob Reiner on Monday said his opponents are targeting him for attacks to avoid discussing the merits of the universal preschool initiative he put on the June ballot." Reiner called charges that he used state tax revenue as a "slush fund" to advertise his initiative "ridiculous."

Reiner stated: "All I have done in my life the last 13 years is to try to make things better for children."

That's right, he did it "for the children," so we shouldn't criticize. How many times over the years have we heard that cliche from other Democrats?