Reiner Resigns

I called for Gov. Arnold to fire Rob Reiner from the First 5 commission a few weeks ago, but Arnold left him alone until this past weekend when the two apparently agreed to Reiner's resignation:

Actor-director Rob Reiner, accused of abusing his role as head of a California commission by spending state funds to promote a campaign to fund preschool, resigned from the job on Wednesday.

Reiner has headed the First 5 California Children and Families Commission, a state entity that provides services to young children, for seven years.

Legislators from both political parties said Reiner, an outspoken Democrat, improperly spent $23 million of commission funds to highlight preschool when he was promoting a referendum for the June 2006 ballot that would guarantee preschool for 4-year-olds.

"When you and I spoke over the weekend, we agreed we cannot let personal political attacks get in the way of doing the very best we can for California's children," Reiner said in a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Reiner was replaced with another liberal activist, so the political makeup of the commission didn't change, but at least the new guy hasn't been accused of misusing state funds for political purposes (yet).