JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) ó A former member of Sarah Palinís inner circle has written a scathing tell-all, saying Palin was ready to quit as governor months before she actually resigned and was eager to leave office when more lucrative opportunities came around.
ěIn 2009 I had the sense if she made it to the White House and I had stayed silent, I could never forgive myself,îFrank Bailey told The Associated Press.
Palinís attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.
ěBlind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Yearsî is due out Tuesday and based on tens of thousands of emails that Bailey said he kept during his time with Palin. It began with working on her 2006 gubernatorial campaign and continued through her failed run for vice president in 2008 and her brief stint as governor.
The Alaska attorney general’s office has said itís investigating Baileyís use of the emails. Executive ethics laws bar former public officials from using information acquired during their work for personal gain if the information hasnít been publicly disseminated.
The state has yet to release thousands of emails that Palin sent and received during her 2 [0xbd] years as governor. Bailey’s attorney has said Bailey took ěgreat careî to ensure his writings were consistent with legal requirements.
Billed as the first Palin book by a former aide, ěBlind Allegianceî bolsters the perception of Palin as self-serving, while casting Bailey as her enforcer ó willing to do the dirty work, no questions asked.
Bailey became a footnote in Alaska political history by getting embroiled in an investigation of Palinís firing of her police commissioner over allegations the commissioner wouldnít fire trooper Mike Wooten, who’d had a bitter divorce with Palinís sister. Bailey was caught on tape questioning a state trooper official about why Wooten was still employed.
Bailey, who was Palinís director of boards and commissions, was put on leave after news of the recording broke, though he claims his actions were with the prodding of Palinís husband, Todd.
In spite of this, and what he describes as campaigns by Sarah Palin over the years to tear down others who have crossed or confronted her, he stuck around.
To speak up when he saw things he didn’t agree with ěwent against all that investment of time and energy that I put into her,î said Bailey. He said he ěshed his family,î his wife and two kids, to singularly focus on Palin during her rise to the governorís office and beyond.
When Palin burst onto the statewide political scene, she was seen as a ěbreath of fresh airî amid the corruption that had seeped into Alaska politics. ěWe looked at her as … that queen on a horse that could come in and save the state,î he said. ěAs we started to see that that was not the case, I kept silent and I just kept on working.î
Among the claims made in the book: that Palinís 2006 gubernatorial campaign coordinated with the Republican Governors Association, or RGA, in violation of campaign rules. The book describes cameras rolling as Palin strode through the door at an Anchorage hotel ěover and over and over,î for an RGA ad.
At that time, there was a one-year statute of limitations on complaints, and the Alaska Public Offices Commission did not receive any complaints related to Palin and the association during that period. However, the RGA was fined ó unrelated to Palin ó for late reporting, according to the commissionís executive director, Paul Dauphinais.
Bailey said the final straw for him came in the summer of 2009, when Palin didnít attend a rally he believed sheíd repeatedly agreed to attend, for supporters of a voter initiative to require minors to get parental consent for an abortion. This came after a string of cancellations, including one before a Republican women’s group at the Ronald Reagan Library in California. Her aides claimed no one had committed to this well-publicized event.
ěGetting Sarah to meetings and events was like nailing Jell-O to a tree,î Bailey wrote. On the campaign trail and as governor, Sarah went through at least ten schedulers, with few lasting more than months. Nobody wanted the job because Sarah might fail to honor, at the last minute, the smallest commitments, and making excuses for her became a painful burden.î
By the time she cancelled on the parental notification event in Anchorage, Palin had resigned as Alaskaís governor and embarked on a new path, one in which sheíd become a best-selling author, highly sought-after speaker, political phenom and prospective presidential candidate.
Bailey claims her heart wasn’t in governing after she returned to Alaska from her failed run for vice president. At home, she faced a barrage of ethics complaints ó nearly all of which were ultimately dismissed ó and Bailey said she told him as early as February 2009 that if she could find the right message to tell Alaskans, sheíd ěquit tomorrow.î
She resigned in July 2009.
Bailey confesses to ěa ton of mistakesî and speaks of a return to God; he said his church has become a sanctuary and that heís reconnected with his family. He said writing the book ó which itself has generated controversy ó was cathartic.
In February, the book project also made headlines when a draft manuscript was leaked. An attorney for Bailey and his co-writers accused author Joe McGinniss, who has his own Palin book coming out this year. McGinnissí attorney acknowledged McGinniss selectively shared the manuscript, but said the manuscript included no request for confidentiality.
Bailey dismisses any suggestion heís disgruntled or bitter; he said he got a front-row seat to state and national politics and was able to recommend judges and set up ěhundredsî of board positions. ěYeah, there were some tough, tough times but hopefully Iíve learned from some of that,î he said. ěTime will tell.î
He said he has no ill feelings toward Palin, with whom he says he hasnít spoken since the fall of 2009. If anything, he said, he feels sad for her.
ěIím sad at a lot of wasted potential,î said Bailey, who believed she could accomplish more than she did as governor. ěI certainly donít hate her but I look at a lot of wasted opportunities on her part.î