In 2008, Lager sponsored legislation that would benefit his lobbyist business partner

Veteran political reporter Rudi Keller of the Columbia Tribune turned up information indicating lieutenant governor candidate Brad Lager was a business partner with a lobbyist during his first two years in the Senate.

Lager's close relationship with Chuck Caisley, now vice president of Kansas City Power and Light, has been questioned by his opponent, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, because Lager is chairman of the Senate's Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy, and the Environment Committee.

Lager, Caisley, and Jared Craighead, lobbyist for CenturyLink, were partners in a complicated web of business operations, which was revealed by only one of the three, Caisley, according to Keller's story.

One thing is certain, in 2008, before Caisley acknowledged in documents filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission that he was in business with Lager, the senator, who was then vice-chairman of the Commerce, Energy and the Environment Committee, sponsored legislation that could have helped Caisley's client, the Missouri Energy Development Association.

SB 1161 would have expanded Missouri's linked deposit loan program, previously set up for farmers and agribusinesses with alternative energy projects, to allow businesses such as those represented by Caisley's client, including Joplin-based Empire District Electric Company, Ameren UE, Kansas City Power and Light, Missouri American Water, and Missouri Gas Energy.

Lager shepherded the bill through his committee, but that was as far as it was able to go.

(Note: Under Missouri law, Caisley and Craighead were required to reveal their business association with Lager. The lawmakers have apparently exempted themselves from that requirement.)