Columbia -- with a City Hall six blocks from the State House -- pays three lobbyists to influence state legislation, while most cities in the state have none.

City Council renewed its contracts with four lobbyists -- one of whom works in Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress -- two weeks ago. But a few council members questioned what they are getting for their money.

"Some of us were not comfortable with the product," Councilman Jim Papadea said.

Some state lawmakers also have questioned whether governments ought to spend tax dollars on lobbying other governments.

Salaries and expenses for the city's lobbyists amount to $180,000 a year. Columbia also has a full-time city staff member, Shirley Gossett, who makes $66,000, to monitor State House legislation.

The state lobbyists are: Larry Marchant Jr., who has connections in the Republican Party; Joe Grant, who has connections in the Democrat Party; and Ron Fulmer, a former state legislator whose partner is former Gov. John West. Barbara McCall is the Washington lobbyist.

Columbia also is a member of the Municipal Association of South Carolina, which has half a dozen lobbyists of its own lobbying on behalf of cities.

According to the state Ethics Commission, only Columbia, Myrtle Beach and Anderson hire lobbyists who work solely for them.

Greenville, North Charleston and Mount Pleasant also share one of Columbia's lobbyists, Fulmer. Those four cities have banded together under the name "S.C. Cities Coalition."

Mayor Bob Coble said Columbia originally hired lobbyists in the early 1990s to ward off attacks by the Legislature and to land state money for capital projects.

Specifically, legislators tried to halt the city's ability to annex through its water system.

"The city has a wonderful relationship with the Legislature now. But a number of years ago, it seemed to me that we were almost under assault," Coble said. "What we found was that our traditional lobbyists -- the Municipal Association -- it was hard for them to work a bill that specifically dealt with Columbia."

Lobbyists also helped the city obtain $5 million from the Legislature in 2000 for infrastructure improvements on Lincoln Street to make way for the Carolina Center and the convention center.

The city's lobbying goals are more general now.

Council will set goals this September. And beginning this year, council has asked the lobbyists to make weekly reports during the legislative sessions.

Marchant said he will be working on anti-gang legislation favored by Columbia City Council during the next legislative session, which starts in January.

"I helped draft that," Marchant said. "I've started to build support for that."

Councilwoman Tameika Isaac said the lobbyists are useful, but she intends to evaluate their performance this year.

"When you get people and you've had them for a while, they get complacent," she said. "Next year, we will have a competitive process."

Isaac said she is specifically concerned about lobbyists working for the city who also work for people with opposing interests.

Grant, Columbia's highest-paid lobbyist, was involved with a group called the Rosewood Youth Development Academy, which got a $437,000 loan from the city last fall.

A city loan officer noted, prior to the loan being granted, that he was worried that Grant's involvement with the Rosewood group could be a conflict of interest because Grant also was working for the city.

That loan, which involved federal money, is being investigated by the FBI. Grant could not be reached for comment.

Isaac noted that Grant has not been accused of wrongdoing and said she didn't think the case should be the basis for whether to renew his contract.

"I think that we definitely need to be more aware of potential conflicts," she said. "If people do business with the city, we need to make sure they are not involved with anything in conflict."

Some state legislators and Gov. Mark Sanford have taken a stand against government agencies spending tax dollars on lobbyists.

Rep. Jim Merrill, R-Charleston, laughed when he heard Columbia had three State House lobbyists.

"The Capitol is a block away; how they have trouble communicating is beyond me," said Merrill, who earlier this year sponsored a bill to block state agencies from having lobbyists.

Merrill said it was impossible to believe that a City Council member would have less influence with a member of the Legislature than a lobbyist would.

"The last I checked, Columbia has a nice-sized delegation who live in the same area. It is disingenuous to say state representatives and state senators don't understand the concerns of municipalities," Merrill said.

Merrill's bill, which passed the House of Representatives and is pending in the state Senate, originally would have banned cities from hiring lobbyists. But Merrill said lobbyists fought hard to have that provision deleted.

Rep. Rick Quinn, R-Richland, the House Majority Leader, said he is generally opposed to municipalities trying to use lobbyists to influence legislators.

"If it is just to lobby the General Assembly ‘.‘.‘. that should be done with elected officials," he said.