Up front - I'm a conservative UCLA theater major.  (There's only one, I'm it)

I always resented the automatic payment to CALPIRG that got tacked onto my quarterly fees.  Since I administer my grandfather's trust (none of which went to me) I knew something about development.  I'd get wined and dined by some significantly worthy causes.  I'd ALWAYS base my decisions on 1) the effeciency of their organization (how much money going in actually went to their purpose.  I wanted to see 70% or better, some were under 10%) and 2) the effectiveness of their cause.  My favorites, today, are the Heiffer Project and the Salvation Army.  Jewish World Watch is doing some really good work in Dafur, I just gave them a large check.  

Basically I wanted to know - were they actually helping people, or just themselves?  CALPIRG never even came up on the radar.  They wouldn't say where the money was going (even though they were legally obligated to do so).  So the fact that they got $5 from each student, 3 times a year, without lifting a finger, really pissed me off.

Now, in retrospect, I look at it differently.  PIRG was sucking all the oxygen out of the room.  As long as they were grabbing all the progressive dollars, they were keeping the rest of the progressive movement from doing any harm.