Two weeks ago, actor/director Rob Reiner sounded like a man who had no intention to giving in to what he saw as much ado about nothing.

Two weeks later, he's apparently had a change of heart.

Reiner apparently told Governor Schwarzenegger of his decision over the weekend to resign as chairman of the California First 5 Commission, after weeks of questions and criticisms over how the commission, under his leadership, spent millions of state dollars on a PR campaign that seemed quite similar to Reiner's political efforts on the issue of preschool programs.

"We agreed that we cannot let personal political attacks get in the way of doing the very best we can for California's children," said Reiner in a statement released by the governor's office.

Reiner's term as chairman, as you may remember, had technically expired. And so all Schwarzenegger had to do was replace the well-known Democrat, which he did today by appointing Hector Ramirez as the new chair. Ramirez currently runs an LA-based organization called Para Los Ninos.

Reiner and his advisers must have clearly realized things weren't getting any better after his long and impassioned defense on March 14 at the Sacramento Press Club (posted here), where he said he had no intention of resigning.

Meantime, the formal state audit of how the First 5 dollars were spent continues; so too, does the examination of the allegations by the Sacramento County District Attorney's office.