Republican activists on Saturday increased their pressure on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace movie director Rob Reiner as head of California's First 5 Commission, saying Reiner's decision to take a leave from his state post wasn't enough.

Reiner on Friday took a leave of absence from the chairman's job until after the June 6 election in hopes of defusing a growing controversy about the state commission's $23 million ad campaign for preschool.

The ad campaign, first reported in The Bee in December, generated an outcry that the commission was using tax dollars to benefit the campaign for Proposition 82, the universal preschool initiative Reiner put on the June ballot.

Tony Strickland, a GOP candidate for state controller, said Saturday that the governor needed to replace Reiner with a chairman who could "bring back integrity" to the First 5 Commission.

"Bottom line, I believe they used $23 million worth of our tax dollars to fund their campaign," he said. "I don't think this should go away."