Another Shot of Baileys

February 21, 2011: Frank Bailey, former aide and confidante to a certain former governor, continues to provide nuggets of insight into the workings of arguably the most incompetent head of state Alaska has ever seen.

On the Matanuska Maid Dairy

"When the state owned Matanuska Maid Dairy was nearing bankruptcy and became a political liability for the administration, in June 2007, Todd instructed me to do opposition research on Mat Maid executive Joseph Van Treek and Terry Clark."

"Mat Maid had lost $600,000 over the prior two years (2005-2006) and the State Creamery Board decided to shut the business down in the spring of 2007. Sarah felt so strongly Mat Maid should continue to operate that she fired the entire state Board of Agriculture and Conservation - which appointed the Creamery Board - and installed her own appointees, who promptly reversed the closure decision. Three months later, after losing another $300,000, Sarah was forced to admit she fired the original board for making the correct decision."

"When Todd, months earlier, seeking to deflect criticism, asked me to do opposition research on the Mat Maid Director and Sarah critic Terry Clark, I discovered nothing damaging and we had little ammunition to personally attack him,"

On oil & gas issues

"Of greatest concerns were oil & gas issues. After all, Sarah's participation on the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission helped build her reputation as an energy expert. Sarah took great pains to hide the fact that her appointment to the AOGCC had nothing to do with her knowledge of the industry, nor did she serve on the commission long enough to gain much expertise."

"In the case of oil & gas issues, the way to keep the fire from re-igniting was to rely solely on our advisors to pen opinions and talking points. Chief among those became Tom Irwin and Bruce Anders, the man who ultimately re-wrote much of Sarah's original ADN editorial."

On firing former DPS Commissioner Walt Monegan's and getting Wooten

"He might be, as Sarah said in her lacquered memoir, a wealthy, effete young chap, but when he interviewed Mike Wooten, the trooper made a number of startling claims leading effete Andy to conclude Governor Palin fired Monegan because she understood too little and wanted a puppet as a commissioner. But there was another reason that contributed to Monegan's ouster; a more alarming reason. Hitting the nail hard and true, he summed up by writing, But more alarming than any budget battle, Monegan said no to firing a State Trooper who had divorced Governor Palin's sister."

"The manner in which Bitney was handled became a dry run - albeit on a smaller less noteworthy scale - for DPS Commissioner Walt Monegan's eventual dismissal. As she'd done to the Mat Maid Board, Bitney, and later Monegan, Sarah disposed of people then obfuscated her reasons through deceit and counter-attack."

The State is in good hands?

"Reading her voice a reporter asked, "Are you sad." Sarah replied, "not sad at all, in fact energized." I recalled her recently writing me, "pray that we win so we can all get out of that place."

"Sarah hadn't ever really been a full-time governor before being nabbed by McCain."

"Our Queen Esther was about to forget about saving her people. Punishing enemies and wealth accumulation became a full-time job."

"From the beginning of 2009, Sarah's Chief of Staff Nizich along with Lt. Governor Sean Parnell assumed most of Sarah's administrative duties as the rest of us, most especially Sarah, wove our way through and around one distraction after another, whipping up a frenzy that became all encompassing."

On State Laws

In September 2007, Sarah wrote, "Heck I don't even believe in click it or ticket seat belt laws, and I filmed a damn commercial for 'em."