State Rep. Nikki Haley, R-Lexington, made big political news in 2004 when she knocked off the then-longest-serving member of the S.C. House, Larry Koon, in a heated primary runoff. Using future John McCain adviser B.J. Boling of Lexington as her frontline operative in a fiscally conservative, anti-tax campaign, Haley cruised through the general election against a write-in opponent.

Haley now has a challenger for the first time since being elected, and while she doesn’t totally discount her opposition, her focus might be on a different race — one that would start immediately if she is re-elected.

“I am running for chair of the Labor, Commerce and Industry [LCI] Committee,” she says, referring to a key House committee.

Harry Cato, R-Greenville, will step down as LCI chairman because he is running unopposed for House speaker pro tempore, Haley says.

Haley, a 36-year-old Bamberg native and Clemson graduate, has seen her star rise in Palmetto State politics since 2004.

Endorsed by The State newspaper in her Nov. 4 contest, Haley’s political coffers have swelled to more than $60,000, with a significant portion of the money coming from pharmaceutical companies. Her opponent, Air Force veteran Edward Gomez, has about $2,100 on hand for the race.

Earning her stripes in perhaps the Columbia area’s most conservative enclave, Haley received a “friend of the taxpayer” award from the South Carolina Association of Taxpayers in 2005 and a “taxpayer hero” award from Gov. Mark Sanford the same year.

She also has aligned herself with the state’s leading conservative think tank, the South Carolina Policy Council, which gave her its “Palmetto leadership award” in 2005.

Also that year, Haley was tapped to lead the House freshmen caucus and was elected as House majority whip the following year. By then she had been appointed to the LCI Committee and by 2007 she was chairwoman of the House Banking and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee.

And if Haley wins another term, she seems confident she will be the future leader of LCI.
Whispers of “first woman governor of South Carolina” might not lag far behind.

However, the triumvirate issues of school vouchers, tax credits and parental choice have become a wedge dividing the state Republican Party, and Haley has aligned herself with the advocates of market-based public education.

Opponents of the philosophy argue that diverting tax dollars to private institutions would undermine public school funding. Supporters say making public schools compete against private schools would force them to do better.

Haley has supported two school choice bills, but she says that to her knowledge she has not received any campaign contributions from Howard Rich, a New York City real estate millionaire and school vouchers advocate who has poured money into several South Carolina legislative races.

Rich’s involvement in Palmetto State politics has drawn fire across the political spectrum.

Although Haley says she is not aware of receiving any financial backing from Rich, her campaign consultant is Starboard Communications, the Lexington firm used by the majority of candidates in this year’s primary season who benefited most from Rich’s largesse.

Boling, who was McCain’s South Carolina communications director during the presidential primary season here, advises Haley as Starboard’s vice president.

In addition, in 2007 the pro-voucher, Rich-associated group South Carolinians for Responsible Government named her a “parental choice advocate.”

Haley appears to be positioned to continue rising through the ranks of the South Carolina Republican Party, but only time will tell whether her support for vouchers-style education will limit how far she climbs.