Mo. Sen. Brad Lager announces candidacy for state treasurer

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- State Sen. Brad Lager declared his candidacy for Missouri treasurer on Saturday as Republicans gathered for their annual statewide conference.

Lager, R-Maryville, is a first-term senator who previously served as the House Budget Committee chairman and is among the legislature's more fiscally conservative members.

"I have been a fiscal guy since my first day in the General Assembly, and that's really who I am by nature," Lager said.

He announced his candidacy during a Republican State Committee meeting, after waiting to make sure that incumbent Republican Treasurer Sarah Steelman would not change her plans to run for governor.

Lager said he believes Steelman has done a great job as treasurer and would get out of the race if she changed her mind and decided to seek re-election.

Lager, 32, was elected to city council in his hometown of Maryville in 2001. The next year, he won election to the Missouri House of Representatives and, aided by term-limits that forced out longtime lawmakers, Lager took over as chairman of the powerful House Budget Committee in January 2005.

But House Speaker Rod Jetton removed Lager as budget chairman in November 2005 after an apparent clash over spending priorities. Lager's removal came as he called for a freeze on state government while warning that Missouri faced a financial shortfall. Jetton, by contrast, had highlighted that the economy was improving and state revenue growing.

Lager was elected to the state Senate in 2006. Because he is in the middle of a four-year Senate term, Lager can run for treasurer this year without having to give up his Senate seat.

Two Democrats already had set up of campaign committees for the treasurer's race before Steelman decided to run for governor. They are Mark Powell, who lost to Steelman in 2004, and Andria Danine Simckes.

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