Fresh Loaf

Does the name above seem vaguely familiar but you can’t recall why? That’s because, if you voted in the 2004 Democratic primary, you saw Squires’ name on the ballot at the end of a list of eight candidates for U.S. Senate.

At the time, Squires, then 46, had served less than one term in the state Senate after three tours of duty in the House. Despite her political experience, a shoe-leather campaign in which she went door-to-door across the state, and a weak slate of opponents, Squires got clobbered. Receiving only 9 percent of the vote, she came in fifth behind U.S. Rep. Denise Majette (who’d claimed God told her to run), self-funded businessman Cliff Oxford, a little-known Vinings attorney, and a perennial candidate who didn’t bother to campaign.

Well, Squires is back, baby. She’ll kick off her new campaign for insurance commissioner at The Loft music venue in the CW Midtown complex tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. Despite five years out of the spotlight, she seems to have maintained her political connections. Joining her on the podium as special guest is former Sen. Max Cleland, and her host committee boasts numerous state legislators, including Reps. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, Karla Drenner and Joe Heckstal; and Sens. Emanuel Jones, Doug Stoner and Curt Thompson.

This time out, Squires is much better positioned to make it through next June’s primary. For starters, she has only one declared opponent so far, state Rep. Keith Heard, D-Athens. And, unlike several of the Republicans going for the job, she’s an insurance industry veteran, serving as executive director of the Georgia Society of Professional Benefit Administrators, a trade and lobbying organization. (Heard, too, it should be noted, has worked in insurance.)

If you decide to join Max and the gang in welcoming Squires back to politics, remember that a contribution of $150 is “suggested,” so don’t show up empty-handed expecting to hit the hors d’oeuvre tray.

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That lovable gnome of a legislator, state Sen. Seth Harp, R-Midland, has finally decided which statewide office he’ll pursue in 2010. We’d heard last week that he was considering the attorney general’s post after current AG Thurbert Baker announced he would run for governor, but Harp has now told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that he’ll shoot for insurance commissioner.

“I want to make sure the people of Georgia are protected from unscrupulous companies and I want to make sure the good companies are also protected,” Harp said.

Harp has been one of our favorite state lawmakers because he rarely seems to give much thought to partisan point-scoring. During the just-ended 2009 General Assembly, for instance, he fearlessly advocated for Sunday alcohol sales while his GOP colleagues were hiding in the bathroom, getting lost on the way to committee meetings and finding any excuse to avoid voting on the issue. His efforts earned him a coveted Arnie Award this year.

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Former Georgia lawmaker Mary Squires says she’s running for insurance commissioner in 2010.

Squires served several terms in the state House of Representatives and Senate. In 2004, she made an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate as a Democrat. The Atlanta resident now heads the Georgia Society of Professional Benefit Administrators, Inc., a self-insured health care trade association. She’s also director and CEO of the Olive Industry Association, a national agriculture research and trade association.

“I am excited to be the first candidate in the race for insurance commissioner,” Squires said in a press release. “It is a very important position. The insurance commissioner impacts the quality of life for every day Georgians more than any other race in 2010.”

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