Robert Proctor, whose appointment to the State Ethics Commission raised hackles with government watchdogs, resigned Friday for medical reasons.
Proctor was appointed to the panel in January by then-Speaker Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek). Earlier this month, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Proctor never paid a $1,000 fine levied by the Ethics Commission in 2004 for failing to register as a lobbyist. Proctor said the order against him was never served and therefore he did not have to pay the penalty.
In a letter to the commission dated Friday, Proctor said he has recently suffered "a series of neurological events" that, while not debilitating, have forced him to make changes in his professional and personal life. The cause of the problem is not known, he said in the letter, obtained by the AJC. He said he is being scheduled for surgery.
"Bob Proctor is a pit bull, and he would never step down from a job unless he really had health issues," Burkhalter said. "This guy has saved Georgia and Fulton County taxpayers millions of dollars over the years. Anybody who reads any more into that doesn't know the no-nonsense Bob Proctor that I know."
In the mid-1990s, Proctor was chair of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for limited government and other conservative principles. He led campaigns against bond referendums, state sales taxes and property reappraisals.
His replacement will be appointed by House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge).
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