Coming Monday: Bailey's on the rocks

With the buzz growing about this book and that book being released about all things Palin, the one book that continues to pique the interest of this blogger is Frank Bailey's memoir; Renegede: Sarah Palin's Hatchet Man.

Since the 2006 campaign, no one person has been closer to the epicenter of the Palin campaign and administration than Frank Bailey. His role in as her campaign manager, administration confidante and all around personal advice giver puts him in a position unlike any other to tell the story being the facade we've all come to suspect.

In 2008, after it was revealed that Bailey had made a phone call to Alaska State Trooper Rodney Dial in an attempt to solicit his help in getting Palin's brother in law fired, Bailey was given the rather light non-punishment of two months paid leave.

Many of us surmised that Palin didn't fire Bailey during Troopergate because he knew too much.

Now we'll know for sure.

While many have speculated that Bailey's book will be more of the same and will contain nothing believable, I hope not. Bailey not only has the chance to set the record straight, but write one helluva best seller.

There is no doubt that Palin drives passionate responses in people across the country. There is also no doubt that past tell all books from various former administrative officials in all levels of government have brought about yawns and disbelief.

In 2005, Paul O'Neil, President George W. Bush first choice to be Treasury Secretary wrote a tell all book after he was fired entitled, The Price of Loyalty.

O'Neil was quickly scapegoated although everything he wrote about like warning against the oncoming fiscal crisis and huge budget deficits in coming years played out exactly how he predicted they would.

When it comes to politics we live in a country where we value free speech, except when it comes to hearing the harsh reality we don't want to hear, than the messenger is dismissed as a smarty pants or sour grapes.

In an interview with the co-author of the book this week Christiana Grace, she promises that all things will be revealed and repeated that the book will be "factual and very well documented."

Very well documented? That sounds a lot like emails, memos, dates, times, places...in short it sounds like the missing links.

Grace along with her co-author Joy Morgan, have adopted a rather savvy approach to Bailey's book. They've recently retained a top Manhatten literary agent and have began to wet the whistles of those looking for a true insider view of how Alaska's former governor managed state business during her eventful half term.

During my conversation with her last Monday, she offered up answers to two questions that I had written about both during the 2006 gubernatorial campaign and during the Troopergate investigation to show how serious Bailey was about revealing everything.

The first question had to do with the 2006 gubernatorial campaign. During the final month of the campaign, the Republican Governor's Association began running ads in support of Palin. According to federal law, third party ads are permissible if the group has no contact or direct coordination with the candidate.

In one of the commercials, Palin was shown walking out of the Captain Cook Hotel, confidently passing directly in front of the camera. The shot was clearly staged.

A few days after the commercial started to run, former KTUU reporter Bill McAllister ran a story about the ad, which included speculation from me that the ad looked entirely staged. Both Palin and her campaign responded in anger, denying anything was staged and that they had no idea the RGA was even there shooting an ad. There are always cameras around when we speak they told the press.

Meanwhile, my friend and talk show host Dan Fagan also took up the cause, even to go so far as to call me sexist for saying that the commercial looked staged.

Three years later we get our answer from Palin's campaign manager Frank Bailey.

Was the commercial staged?

Was there direct coordination with the RGA in violation of federal laws?

The second question is the most intriguing one, having to do with Bailey's phone call to Trooper Rodney Dial in February of 2008. In the tape recorded call, Bailey tells Dial that he is calling on behalf on Todd and Sarah and that they are frustrated that Palin's brother in law is still on the force.

Todd Palin refuted that they ever pressured Bailey into calling Dial, however this is a great example of the plausible deniability that they've become so adept at.

Minutes after Bailey's phone call to Dial in February 2008, he sent an email via his Blackberry to Ivy Frye, another one of the three close insiders to the Palin family that were hired in her administration. Just got off the phone with Rodney, Bailey wrote to Frye, I don't think he gets it.

Phone records also show that the night before Bailey's call to Dial, Todd Palin placed several phone calls to Frye leading up to Bailey's call to Dial.

So who pressured Bailey into calling Dial? It seems that Todd Palin pressured Frye into pressuring Bailey into making the call, thus Bailey's revalation to Dial that he was calling on behalf of Sarah and Todd and in doing so Todd could deny culpability.

The co-authors of Bailey's book, Grace and Morgan, are setting the stage for one book that lovers and haters alike won't be able to avoid reading.