Tax-funded opposition is one of the inevitable frustrations of championing conservative causes in Washington and in state capitals. In South Carolina, for example, state colleges and universities spend gobs of taxpayer dollars on marketing, liaison activities, and formal lobbying at the General Assembly. It often pays off, says College of Charleston Executive VP Steve Osborne:

The lobbyists “are like another type of fundraiser,” Osborne said. For instance, lobbying brought in $545,000 in state money about four years ago to launch a hospitality and tourism management program. The program’s funding was cut last year, but its foundation was set so the college could continue the program.
And lobbyists are more important in tough economic times, he said. “In times of competing for scarce resources, it intensifies the need.”
The college’s lobbyists will also help the school compete for federal stimulus money, he said. The college is trying to bring in money from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Ashley Landess, president of The South Carolina Policy Council, a conservative think tank in Columbia pushing for more transparency in government, said neither state nor federal taxpayers’ money should be used to pay for lobbyists.
“It’s a conflict of interest against the people,” she said. “As a taxpayer, I might be paying a lobbyist to fight for something I don’t agree with.”

At least Palmetto State conservatives have a strong voice on their side in Columbia: Landess’s South Carolina Policy Council. It was one of the originators of the state-based think-tank movement. You can catch up on the latest at its blog, the Palmetto Insider.