Hollywood actor and director Rob Reiner stepped down last week as the chairman of the California Children and Families Commission.
In a March 29 letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, Mr. Reiner said he didn鈥檛 want to 鈥渓et personal political attacks get in the way of doing the very best we can for California鈥檚 children.鈥�
Mr. Reiner has been facing pressure from state legislators to leave the commission amid suspicion that the organization鈥攚hich was established after a 1998 tobacco-tax initiative that Mr. Reiner spearheaded鈥攕pent more than $20 million on an advertising campaign designed to boost support for his latest statewide preschool ballot initiative.
Proposition 82, on the June 6 ballot, would levy an additional 1.7 percent income tax on the state鈥檚 wealthiest residents to provide a free year of prekindergarten for all 4-year-olds. Mr. Reiner, who has maintained that he was not involved in devising the ads, was appointed to the commission in 1999 by former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.
