Decades ago Robert Constantine, then a well-respected lobbyist, spoke before a legislative committee and said, “Speaking as a citizen..” Everyone laughed, including Constantine, who everyone knew was registered as a lobbyist. But the humor of the moment underscored that Constantine was not just a respected professional, but that he truly addressed his job as a good citizen of Georgia as well.
From that day, Constantine took on the title of “Citizen Constantine” to his longtime friends in legislative circles.
The decision by Georgia’s ethics commission to hire the former lobbyist and retired administrative law judge to oversee the organization as a third party administrator through at least May likely indicates that the members of the commission’s board are fed up with bickering and battles among staff and former staff and take very seriously a current federal probe into past operations at the commission.
“Bob is a straight shooter and brings the maturity, experience and day-to-day oversight that this organization needs,” said InsiderAdvantage CEO and former legislator Matt Towery. “It has been my opinion that the commission and just about everything related to it has been changed so many times over the years that it became impossible for the volunteer members who guide it to be expected to watch its internal daily conduct of business. They have wisely chosen to put this into the hands of onsite ‘adult supervision,’ he added.
