San Diego UT on Prop 82

[Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>]

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Prop 82: No, no, no

Initiative is badly crafted, deceptively sold

UNION-TRIBUNE

June 4, 2006

If ever a political matter illustrated the proverbial wisdom that the road 
to hell is paved with good intentions, it is Proposition 82. Rob Reiner's 
free preschool for allinitiative stems from the filmmaker-activist's 
sincere concern that many poor children's lack of early intellectual 
development dooms them to substandard lives.

But Reiner came to believe his altruism was all that mattered that in 
pursuing his crusade, he had no responsibility to forge wise public policy 
or to behave in ethical fashion.

This monomania led to a crass decision to have marketing rather than 
scholarship and common sense drive the initiative's crafting.

Rather than a simple plan that gave subsidies to low-income families for 
preschool, Reiner endorsed a grand scheme that also would pay for preschool 
for the middle class and the rich. (A tax hike on those making more than 
$400,000 would pay the annual $2.4 billion tab.) This open attempt to buy 
the votes of the well-to-do by offering them a freebie they don't need 
would be Proposition 82's biggest cost by far.

And rather than recognize that not all 4-year-olds have the same needs, or 
acknowledge that most parents are happy with their private preschools, 
Reiner sought to secure organized labor's support by backing a highly 
regimented state takeover, expanding public employees' union clout and 
creating a bidding war for teachers.

This massive overhaul couldn't be sold using existing scholarship, which 
shows preschool has little or no long-term value for kids in middle-class 
or affluent homes. So Reiner and his allies started fudging the facts, 
touting a RAND study as proof of preschool's vast benefit to society. 
Journalists who bothered to read the study were startled to find it dealt 
with a small, unrepresentative group of Chicago kids who were part of an 
intensive, five-year program nothing remotely like Proposition 82.

Reiner's blinders also led him to secure the initiative's place on the 
ballot in a way that bordered on theft. The First 5 commission, chaired by 
Reiner, used $23 million in taxpayer money for TV, radio and print ads 
touting the glories of preschool for alljust as the preschool for 
allsignature-gathering campaign geared up.

Rather than admit what every scrap of evidence showed that this was the 
long-planned culmination of years of misuse of public resources in service 
of his political goals Reiner had the gall to insist it was all a 
coincidence. (And to suggest his critics' real target was poor kids.)

Thankfully, Reiner's shabby and cynical tactics have gotten the media 
reception they deserve. Pundits have pounded on him, and editorial pages of 
all ideologies have denounced Proposition 82.

But voters, not journalists, have the final say. To those going to the 
polls Tuesday, we cannot urge a Novote strongly enough. Mainly because 
Proposition 82 is a costly, badly drafted botch of what might have been a 
good initiative but also to send a message to Rob Reiner and those tempted 
to emulate his tactics. That message: Chicanery doesn't pay.



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