As head of the Wind Coalition,Jeffrey Clark makes it clear as possible again that he and his organization had nothing to do with the GPS tracking of anti-wind legislator Rep. Mark McBride of Moore. Nor did it hire a Texas political consultant to trail McBride.
It was Clark’s response to reports that McBride maintains the OSBI now has evidence showing telephone conversations between Clark and political consultant George Shipley of Austin, Texas. It was McBride’s contention last December that the wind industry was behind private investigators putting a GPS tracking device on his pickup truck.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t know about the hackers until word came out,” said Clark in an interview with OK Energy Today. “We didn’t hire George Shipley.”
He admits knowing Shipley, the consultant some called “Doctor Dirt.” Clark’s known him for years and talks with him like he does with numerous other political consultants.
“We talk to political consultants all over the region.” But Clark said it doesn’t mean his organization hired Shipley to find “dirt” on Rep. McBride.
“We found out about this issue afterwards,” said Clark repeating his denial of any link to the GPS tracker that sparked a lawsuit by the legislator against a private detective firm.
“I personally, and the Wind Coalition in the years I have been with it, have never hired an opposition researcher in any state,” he added. “The issue here is the GPS tracker and who authorized the tracker. It is 100 percent the tracker and this organization had nothing to do with it.”
It was Rep. McBride who first blamed the wind industry after he reported finding the tracking device on his pickup truck in December 2017. And the allegation was not well received by Clark.
“I don’t trust a word that comes out of Mark McBride’s mouth,” said Clark. “For him to continue to say we were behind it, that’s just not accurate!”
For now, Clark wants things to play out in the courts and let the truth come out. He also had some advice for wind industry critics.
“Everybody ought to be sure what they accuse people of,” he continued. “There’s a lot more to the story. Mark has always attacked the industry and used his opposition to point a finger.”
McBride originally filed suit (CJ-2017-7260) Dec. 22, 2017 against U-Blox America, Inc; H.L. Christensen; Eastridge Investigations and Asset Protection Inc. and John Doe.
In late March of this year, he dismissed with prejudice the lawsuit against Christensen and Eastridge Investigations. The case remains in the hands of Oklahoma County District Judge Trevor Pemberton.
Eastridge Investigations is based in Tuttle and is owned by Kyle Eastridge. Christensen works for Eastridge and Eastridge admitted earlier this year it was Christensen who put the device on McBride’s truck at the state capitol. Eastridge also admitted his firm had been hired by Shipley but the question remains, who hired Shipley.