Anyone who knows Brad Lager well would be amused at Clint Zweifel’s ad calling Lager Gov. Matt Blunt’s “best friend.”

In his four years in the House and two years in the Senate, Lager has often been a thorn in Blunt’s side.

A fiscal conservative, Lager complained when Blunt presented his budget proposal this year because spending increased at a faster clip than revenue growth.

Lager also has been the voice of caution on Blunt’s tax credits plans, such as the mega-tax credit packages that Republicans passed for developer Paul McKee and Bombardier Aerospace.

When the state’s biodiesel subsidies spiked, Lager complained about that, too, even though the leading beneficiary of the subsidies was a company represented by the governor’s lobbyist-brother, Andy Blunt.

That doesn’t mean Lager always disagreed with Matt Blunt.

Lager was one of the biggest backers of Blunt’s 2005 Medicaid cuts. As House Budget Committee chairman, Lager submitted a budget bill that chopped even more low-income parents from the rolls than Blunt had suggested. Lager said the state had to live within its means.

In fact, Lager was so frugal that House Speaker Rod Jetton dumped him as budget chair when Lager called for a freeze on new state programs.

The point is that Lager, while consistently conservative on fiscal matters, has displayed an independent streak when it comes to his party. This year, he was part of a six-member group of senators — three Republicans and three Democrats — who joined together to make the Senate more bipartisan by avoiding filibusters.

Lager and Zweifel are competing in the race for state treasurer.