The leaked manuscript of a book by former Palin aide Frank Bailey asserts that the Alaska governor was “petty” and broke state election law in her 2006 gubernatorial campaign, reports the Anchorage Daily News, which was among the news outlets that received a copy.
The Daily News describes the 500-page unpublished book, which is tentatively titled In Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of our Tumultuous Years, as a “mixture of analysis, gossip, and allegation.” Bailey’s leaked manuscript, which circulated throughout the media last week, begins with an account of Palin saying “I hate this damn job” prior to resigning as governor in July 2009.
Bailey, who joined Palin’s campaign in 2006, has declined many interviews and refused to do one Friday, when his tell-all book had reached numerous media outlets. The former aide wrote his manuscript with co-authors, based on more than 60,000 emails he sent or received while working under Palin.
Bailey, who calls himself a Fox News conservative, said he was charmed by Palin at first, but eventually concluded he’d been blinded by her.
Although Palin “had God’s blessing and people’s love and faith,” Bailey added that the campaign was vindictive, malicious, and catty, and had a tendency to dwell on petty disputes.
“We set our sights and went after opponents in coordinated attacks, utilizing what we called ‘Fox News surrogates,’ friendly blogs, ghost-written op-eds, media opinion polls (that we often rigged), letters to editors, and carefully edited speeches,” Bailey wrote.
The book also claims Palin broke election law by teaming up with the Republican Governors Association during her 2006 gubernatorial campaign. State candidates aren’t allowed to combine forces with such soft-money groups, according to the Daily News. Bailey said Palin teamed up with the RGA on an ad that depicted her marching out of Anchorage’s Hotel Captain Cook.
“Far worse, Sarah conducted multiple takes and knew exactly what was happening. She had, I suddenly believed, broken the law,” Bailey wrote.
Bailey claims Palin betrayed Jim Minnery, head of anti-abortion group Alaska Family Council, and skipped an event with him to promote a ballot measure that sought to make teen abortions illegal. Bailey said he thought Palin didn’t show up because she was working on her book.
“When Sarah turned on Jim Minnery and his/their cause, for the sole purposes of making money and causing him embarrassment, I saw how blind I’d become. Finally, Sarah Louise Palin’s petty ways and butchered priorities would set me free,” Bailey wrote.
Pam Pryor Palin, spokeswoman for Palin’s political action committee, said Palin probably won’t acknowledge Bailey’s book.
“Doubt she will respond to this kind of untruth,” Pryor wrote in an email to the Daily News.