The furor surrounding Rob Reiner’s continued presence on the State’s Children and Families Commission continues to grow ever since it became common knowledge that Reiner maintains his seat on this commission by virtue of the fact that Governor Schwarzenegger has not appointed a replacement – which he can do at any point.
FR buddy Bill Bradley over at his New West Notes blog (always accessable via the FR Blog Roll above) mentions that he called the Governor’s Press Secretary about Reiner:
Since Reiner’s post is now a political issue, I asked the Governor’s Office about his status as chairman of the state commission, as his term there expired more than a year ago.
Gubernatorial press secretary Margita Thompson’s [pictured] careful statement: “His term expired in 2004. He has subsequently stayed in that position. There is no announcement to be made regarding his status.”
You can read more of Bradley’s post here.
Reiner has not become an issue in the State Controller’s race, and one of the candidates for the GOP nomination, Tony Strickland, just sent this out (hopefully we will see a mirror of this release coming out from State Senator Abel Maldonado, who is Stickland’s primary opponent).
Governor Must Immediately Replace Reiner
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 cadre of paid consultants,” said Strickland. “Tax dollars specifically collected to improve children’s education have ended up in the pockets of paid political operatives without bids, without oversight and without accountability. “
“When the Labor and Workforce Development Agency spent several thousand dollars last March to send out a video news release, State Controller Steve Westly immediately announced plans to conduct an audit to stop the misappropriation of public funds for political purposes. Surely, when the funds in question run into the hundreds of millions, Mr. Westly will do no less. He has the power to not sign checks when there is evidence that public funds are being misappropriated. It is time for him to use that power, and freeze any further expenditure of public funds until a full audit gets to the bottom of this mess.” Strickland listed four areas that should be the focus of the Controller’s audit:
1) Political use of public funds – Investigate the exact trail of decisions that led to an expenditure of more than $34 million of tax money on television ads to promote “Preschool for All,” a media campaign that coincided precisely with circulation of the Reiner “Preschool for All” initiative petitions. The Commission has existed for years. Who made the decision to spend such a huge part of the budget, all in 2005, and all coinciding with the Reiner initiative of the same name?
2) Cronyism – Who made the decision to pay Reiner’s political campaign advisers $206,000 out of public funds? Where are the contracts? What services were rendered? Were these advisers working for the taxpayers, or working for Reiner’s political committee, and only being paid by the taxpayers?
3) Did Reiner steer more than $170 million in contracts to the same firm that was involved in the campaign to pass Proposition 10? Is this firm, or any of its employees, involved in Reiner’s current political campaign on behalf of Proposition 82, Reiner’s “Preschool for All” Tax Increase initiative?
4) What plan currently exists for future expenditures of funds allocated to First 5? Are there, or were there, plans to expend further public funds to coincide with the election campaign for Proposition82?
Read all of Strickland’s release, which is attached below.