The December 20th Bayside Gazette contained an unattributed editorial that is essentially an atttack on Clarke's personality and character. Below is a letter sent to the Gazette editor by OPA Director Dave Stevens in response to their editorial about Clarke:

The unattributed editorial in the December 20th issue of the Gazette advises me, and my fellow Directors, to focus on "..... solving the issues at hand rather than being distracted by a war of personalities and convictions". It then proceeds to identify Director Clarke's personality and character as the cause of Board divisiveness. It says, or directly implies, that Director Clarke's outspoken manner is detrimental, that he finger points and becomes a critic of "every" move someone else makes, that he has a propensity to grandstand, that he is unwilling to work in a thoughtful manner, and would rather throw sand in the faces of the majority rather than play in their sandbox. If there is an issue mentioned other than Director Clarke's personality and character, I failed to see it.

Five years ago, Director Clarke was elected to the Board, placing third out of nine candidates. He was elected partly because of his role in forcing a $5.4M Community Center proposal to referendum where it was resoundingly defeated. But, what may not be as well known is that Director Clarke was one of the driving forces in the replacement of the old Community Center, an active supporter of the Swim and Racquet Club Pool renovation and skate park projects, the founder and co-chair of a Golf Operations subcommittee. While Director Clarke did not support all of the actions taken by those Boards they were three years filled with solid achievements and I was proud to work with him as part of it. Far from being the "wild card" that the Editor suggests, Director Clarke's positions on issues have been remarkably consistent.

This year Director Clarke, after serving a year on the Budget and Finance Committee, was reelected to the Board placing second, well ahead of the third and fourth place candidates. Unfortunately for him, he was elected following a period of two years of Management and Board underachievement, that has resulted in record operational losses, reckless expenditure of capital and rapidly growing debt. Director Clarke's refusal to be a cheerleader while this is happening has, without doubt, raised the ire of those who would prefer it remain quiet.

In fact, I find it difficult to believe that the timing of this editorial is not coincidental to the well publicized complaints of Board misconduct that have been brought against Director Clarke by Board members whose "sandbox" he has disturbed. This group of Directors have done their level best to keep this out of the public eye despite Director Clarke's requests for an open hearing. Perhaps they now feel that a little suitably biased publicity might help their cause.

Dave Stevens
Director, Ocean Pines Association