Athens mayoral candidate Charlie Maddox has revealed the answer to one of the greatest mysteries in local politics, according to Pete McCommons.

Maddox told McCommons that, contrary to popular belief, he is not a Republican and never has been.

Charlie says that myth got started in the last mayoral race because local Republicans supported him, thinking he would be more receptive to them than the other candidates. Charlie wanted to pick my brain about why some people just don’t get his candidacy. The way he sees it, he would make the perfect mayor for Athens: more an independent than a party-label guy, with a long and impressive record of volunteer public service. Charlie shrugs off the reminder that he’s never been strong on issues by suggesting that he’s good at getting people together to solve problems—that solutions are more important than issues and results better than party labels.

Candidates for Athens mayor really got into the nitty-gritty about their plans for jobs at a Democratic Party forum this morning. You can read more about the forum in the paper tomorrow, but here’s a quick look at the details of how they’ll create jobs.

STEP 1: Make everything green.

STEP 2: Be business-friendly.

STEP 3: ???

STEP 4: Jobs!

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Athens-Clarke mayoral candidate Glenn Stegall is under investigation for giving away an iPad, according to Beyond the Trestle. Someone complained that Stegall ran afoul of a law regulating raffles, but the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office has cleared him of wrongdoing.

Personally, I’ve never seen a political campaign give away anything but barbecue, and as Marvin Griffin could tell you, that’s often an ineffective tactic.

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Well, the Athens-Clarke mayoral race is officially on.

It’s no longer the province of those blessed few who are actively involved with local politics, nor the even fewer who are paid to watch them, such as myself. Spencer Frye is going on the radio, taking his campaign to the masses. From Team Frye:

Spencer Frye’s campaign for Mayor will be airing a radio ad this week touting his experience.

As Executive Director of the Athens Area Habitat for Humanity, Spencer Frye interacts with several major departments in the Athens-Clarke County government: planning, inspections, public works, and human and economic development. Spencer manages the budget of one of the largest non-profits in Athens and manages a staff of 13 employees on a daily basis. It is a difficult job, indicated by the fact that there were five executive directors in the preceding six years before Spencer became director.

• Gubernatorial candidate Eric Johnson came out with the strongest plan yet to crack down on illegal immigrants, requiring schools and hospitals to check for citizenship. You literally cannot be too harsh on illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But something tells me Mrs. Watkinsville Soccer Mom and Mr. Winder NASCAR Dad won’t appreciate it when they show up for the first day of kindergarten or at the emergency room with chest pain and get treated like a Guatemalan day laborer.

• As Georgia Liberal notes, a dispute is brewing between mayoral candidates Nancy Denson and Spencer Frye over who supported PACE bonds first. I think it was Frye, but I don’t think Denson knew it when she sent out the news release. To Denson’s credit, she’s checking tape of a January forum to find out for sure which candidate (or both) mentioned it then.

Most people – including me – are focusing right now on the primary elections coming up in July. Lest we forget, though, there is a mayor’s race going on, albeit a low-key and quiet one.

Here’s the latest missive from Spencer Frye announcing his support for the arts.

Athens needs to recognize the value of its cultural assets and put them to work in an organized and effective way. Creating a centralized Cultural Affairs Office that supports and promotes all aspects of Athens arts, music, film and performance talent and venues would be a good start.

Rumors of Gwen O’Looney’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.

The gossip around town the past few days has been that O’Looney changed her mind about running for mayor. A flabbergasted Gwen emphatically denied the rumor. In fact, she said she's about to book the Classic Center for her campaign kickoff on June 28 (and, yes, the Classic Center Authority member said she’s paying full price, which will be confirmed or not by her July campaign finance disclosure).

“Why would the frontrunner drop out?” she asked.

Good point. But it begs the question, is O’Looney the frontrunner?

Gail Schrader at the Board of Elections was kind enough to fax over some old election results the other day.

Former mayoral candidate Brandon Shinholser has endorsed Spencer Frye for the office, saying that he is the best candidate to promote “green” ideas and bring jobs to Athens.

Shinholser recently withdrew from the race because, he said today, he did not want to take votes away from Frye and jeopardize the chance to elect a progressive. On his campaign website, he wrote:

Spencer has an established record of promoting green initiatives, such as implementing EarthCraft standards at Habitat, whole house recycling, and the ReNew Athens initiative. At the recent debate on sustainability, he continued to advocate for new ideas such as an Office of Sustainability and (to quote Flagpole Magazine) “exhibited the most impressive command of the issues.”

At the Hot Corner festival last weekend, I noticed several African-Americans wearing “Nancy Denson for mayor” T-shirts and no “I’m with Charlie” shirts. Granted, it’s not much of a sample size, but it got me thinking about whom black voters will be supporting in November.

Denson clearly is trying to make inroads. But Charlie Maddox beat Mayor Heidi Davison three-to-one in majority-black precincts in 2006. Spencer Frye has connections to the black community through his job running Habitat for Humanity. And Gwen O’Looney has always been popular in East Athens.

Discuss.

They’re back!

The rumor mill is working overtime since former Athens-Clarke Mayor Gwen O’Looney announced she is running again.

O’Looney’s candidacy generated a lot of buzz, but I’m still hearing from people who are not happy with their choices and/or want someone new. We’ll see how it all settles out, but here’s a list of names folks are floating.

Keep in mind, this list is a mixture of people who are thinking about running for mayor, people who are rumored to be thinking about running for mayor and people who are coming up in conversations about who should run for mayor. There is a difference. In no particular order:

Athens-Clarke Commissioner Mike Hamby
Commissioner Kelly Girtz
Commissioner David Lynn
Commissioner Kathy Hoard
Commissioner Harry Sims
Superior Court Judge Steve Jones
Activist and 2006 candidate Andy Rusk
Car dealer and Democratic activist Buddy Allen