Phone Records Could be Damning for Wind Industry in Tracking Incident of Legislator

An Austin, Texas political consultant who allegedly hired private investigators to put a GPS tracking device on the pickup truck of anti-wind legislator Rep. Mark McBride of Moore could be subpoenaed this week by an Oklahoma multi-county grand jury.

The subpoena of George C. Shipley could come after the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation found new evidence linking him to the wind industry. An OSBI agent, according to a report in the Oklahoman newspaper, recently informed Rep. McBride of the discovery of telephone records showing Shipley had conversations with Jeffrey Clark, president of the Wind Coalition. Both Shipley and Clark have offices in Austin.

When Rep. McBride discovered the GPS device on his pickup truck last Dec. 4, he immediately suspected the wind industry because of his legislation proposed against wind farm operators in Oklahoma.

“After going through the phone records, they have matched phone calls between George Shipley and Jeffrey Clark…to specific dates I had given them on my suspicions of being followed or tracked,” McBride told the Oklahoman.

But Clark has denied that his organization had anything to do with the incident.

“Once again, neither I nor The Wind Coalition has ever hired George Shipley or his company to do any work in any state,” Clark said in an interview with the newspaper.

But he admitted he has spoken at times with Shipley and explained, “Mr. Shipley is politically engaged in multiple markets and we’ve occasionally spoken about the business climate and issues in several of those markets.”

Rep. McBride maintains the OSBI told him Shipley and Clark had numerous phone conversations last fall and spoke on Nov. 13, the day Shipley is said to have paid $5,000 to private investigators to look into him.