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.

Mayoral candidate Spencer Frye recently came out against building the tennis center at Bishop Park, saying in a news release that the Athens-Clarke Commission should scale it back.

• 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.

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.”

A host of fissures in the Republican Party are opening up during qualifying week.

There’s the strange saga of Ray Boyd, the self-funded millionaire candidate for governor turned away by the GOP today because he refused to sign a loyalty oath.

If Boyd follows through and runs as an independent, Democrats will be jumping up and down. Assuming his $2 million investment can buy him even 5 percent of the vote, combined with a Libertarian candidate who is likely to draw 3 or 4 percent, Boyd could potentially turn what would have been a sizeable Republican victory into a runoff.

Meanwhile, state Rep. Austin Scott is playing Hamlet, trying to decide whether to continue with his long-shot bid for governor or switching over to try to oust Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle. It’s a sign of Cagle’s unpopularity and voters’ anti-incumbent attitude that Scott is even considering it.

It’s over! Spencer Frye is running for mayor. He released this statement this morning:

"For the past several months now, I have been exploring how I can be most effective in this community, whether by continuing my work as Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity, becoming more involved with the environmental company I cofounded, or by becoming a candidate for Mayor of Athens. In discussion with various people about the issues Athens faces, I have been humbled by the encouragement from so many who think that a candidacy for Mayor of Athens is how I can be most effective. Today, I am officially declaring my candidacy for Mayor of Athens.

Some interesting propaganda from the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the benefits of health care reform landed in the in-box today.

According to the committee, in the congressional district that includes Athens, health care reform will:

• Provide tax credits for up to 184,000 families who qualify to buy insurance, as well as 15,300 small businesses.

• Provide coverage for 15,300 people who have pre-existing conditions.

• Prevent 2,500 bankruptcies related to medical expenses.

• Save money for 10,300 Medicare recipients by closing the “donut hole” in prescription drug coverage.

• Allow up to 67,000 young adults to remain on their parents’ insurance plans until age 26.

• Extend coverage to 82,000 uninsured district residents.

Via Tim Bryant:

“Athens Area Habitat for Humanity director Spencer Frye says he'll have an announcement one way or the other within the next two weeks on whether he is a candidate for Mayor. Frye has been considering a campaign to replace a term-limited Athens Mayor Heidi Davison.”

All signs point to Frye running, but the wait continues. At this point, I'm halfway expecting Pozzo and Lucky to stop by.

In other news, potential Commission District 1 candidate Sara Bickerton said her campaign is not official yet, but she is seriously considering running. Beyond the Trestle has a brief interview with her, and look for more info here as soon as I get the final word that she’s in.

Spencer Frye is not running for mayor – yet. Sure, he attended a forum for mayoral candidates in July, and he raised more than $11,000 for his potential future campaign that he’s supposedly not running right now. Because he’s not an official candidate – yet.

Come to find out, Frye consigliere Bo Mabry started a Frye for Mayor Facebook page. With almost 800 members. On which his dad wrote, “This is really great. Being mayor is a really great thing. I believe you will do a fantastic job.”

Candidates lay groundwork before publicly announcing all the time, but enough is enough! Spencer, come out of the closet!