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.

The latest rumor sweeping the city is that a Trader Joe’s grocery store is coming to Athens.

Apparently the lack of somewhat drinkable $3 wine in Athens has become a political issue, because mayoral candidate Brandon Shinholser is jumping on the bandwagon.

Shinholser released a letter today he says he sent to the president of Trader Joe’s. It reads, in part:

In recent months, there have been groups of individuals popping up all over Facebook. Some of those groups totaled as many as 1, 500 local members.

Local businesses, as well as individual patrons, are circulating petitions to show their support for making your company a part of our community. If there is any place that needs a Trader Joe's, any place that is ready for a Trader Joe's, any place that should have a Trader Joe's-it is Athens, Georgia.

Right now, states regulate the insurance industry, and every state has its own set of laws that dictate what types of policies insurance companies must offer consumers. Under Democrats’ plans for health care reform, the federal government would take over much of that regulatory burden.

Obviously, conservatives don’t want that. A centerpiece of Republicans’ alternatives is allowing insurance companies to sell plans across state lines. In Georgia, Senate Bill 309 would allow Georgians to purchase plans from out of state.

As Stephen Northington, a Republican candidate for state insurance commissioner, pointed out today, that’s a really bad idea.

Long-shot candidate for Athens mayor Brandon Shinholser continued his barrage of attacks on Charlie Maddox today. Unlike the hands-off Maddox, Shinholser says he wants the elected mayor to be the boss, not the appointed manager.

In his platform, Charlie Maddox says that he “seeks to be the Mayor of Athens, not the manager,” and he goes on to say that “the administration of this City’s core activities cannot ebb and flow with the fad politics of the week.” We can all agree that elected officials need to set the policies, and then let the departments carry them out, but Charlie completely ignores a key part of governance. The city charter requires Athens-Clarke County to have a manager and lays out what the manager does, but charters can be changed and ours needs to be changed.