The good news is Rob Reiner has finally done the right thing and resigned as chairman of the California Children and Families Commission, colloquially known as the First 5 Commission. It would have been nice if Reiner was resigning because he knows it is wrong to use tax dollars to promote his universal government pre-school ballot initative, but the world is an imperfect place. We’ll have to content ourselves with a resignation letter equal parts self-pity, self-congratulation and moral obliviousness (probably penned by Reiner’s new smashmouth PR guru, Mark Fabiani).
The bad news is our Governor has replaced Reiner with a political clone (of Reiner, not Schwarzenegger) named Hector Ramirez, head Para Los Ninos (Spanish for — what else? — For The Children). Here’s what Bill Bradley, who’s been the news source on this controversy, has to say about Ramirez:
UPDATE: Schwarzenegger may have created another controversy for himself with the appointment of Hector Ramirez as First 5 Chairman. Ramirez is a political associate of Reiner’s. The Proposition 82 campaign was launched at an event outside Para Los Ninos.
Ramirez served on the executive committee of the First 5 LA’s Preschool For All Initiative, which was, as I reported earlier, Reiner and First 5’s initial attempt to institute a publicly-funded universal preschool program and served as a model for Prop 82. After it was discovered that the Prop 10 tobacco tax money was inadequate for the task, Reiner’s thoughts turned to a new statewide initiative to fund Preschool For All at the state level. That initiative is now Prop 82. Ramirez is also a leading member of the National Council of La Raza ("The Race"), an advocacy organization on a variety of issues, including immigration reform.
La Raza! Fant-ah-stic!
In other words, nothing has really changed at the First 5 Commission — other than they will presumably stop spending tax dollars to fund a political campaign.
It’s getting to the point where I’ll be surprised if I’m not disappointed by the Governor’s actions.