Frank Bailey's paid vacation: The cover up
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Less than a week after Frank Bailey was outed after making a recorded phone call where he tried to get the governor's ex-brother in law fired, disclosed confidential health information and portrayed that the call was at the behest of the governor, Bailey received the harshest punishment Governor Sarah Palin could apparently dish out; a paid vacation.
Late Tuesday, the governor's office sent out an email that said "Frank Bailey has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the Branchflower investigation." According to Kyle Hopkins at the Anchorage Daily News, Bailey is on paid leave and is eligible to continue collecting his $78,528 salary.
This is a joke. After all, has anyone stopped to recognize just how much exposure Bailey's 24 minute phone call to State Trooper Lt. Rodney Dial has created for the state, not to mention Governor Palin.
First, Bailey's request to Dial to act as a mole in forwarding communications sent to PSEA members seriously encroaches on fair labor practices rules. The PSEA union is already reviewing their legal options.
Second, Bailey's discussion of Palin's ex brother in laws medical files are a serious violation of an employees privacy rights and HIPAA laws which are strictly enforced to protect the privacy of employees.
Third, Bailey's attempts to get Palin's brother in law, fired even though the complaints he mentioned had already been ajudicated, violated Wooten's employee rights.
All three of these instances has not only provided serious legal exposure for the state and Frank Bailey, but has ironically given Palin's ex brother in law grounds to sue the state for violating his rights.
How's that for turn about. After spending a year and a half dogging Palin's ex brother in law, not only could the Palin administration not get the guy fired, but they've handed him a solid case to turn around and sue the state.
But yet after all of this mess he created, Frank Bailey gets a paid vacation.
And what about the governor's assertion that she didn't know any of this was going on?
On July 18, when former Commissioner Walt Monegan broke his silence about the pressure he felt to fire Palin's ex brother in-law, the Anchorage Daily News reported this:
In February, the governor brought up Wooten's name to Monegan, according to Monegan. They were walking together to wish Sen. Lyman Hoffman a happy birthday. "I told her I needed to keep her at arm's distance and she shouldn't be involved," he said. "She said, 'OK, that's a good idea.' "
Bailey was the latest to contact him about Wooten. He called a trooper commander, and several others, before the calls ended up in Monegan's lap. Monegan called him back.
" 'We can't do this. This is not what we are supposed to do,' " Monegan said he told Bailey.
Now, step back and look at the time line that has been established as each little bit of information has been released out of sequence.
Senator Lyman Hoffman's birthday was on Februrary 13, when Monegan said he was walking with Palin and told her she shouldn't be involved after she mentioned Wooten's name.
On the afternon of Februrary 28, Todd Palin makes three calls to Ivy Frye.
On the evening of February 28, Frye begins a flurry of emails to Annette Krietzer, Todd Palin, Sarah Palin, Frank Bailey and Kris Perry regarding PSEA.
On the morning of Februrary 29, Frank Bailey calls Trooper Lt. Rodney Dial and spends 24 minutes with him on the phone attempting to convince him that Wooten needs to be fired.
Directly after the phone call on the morning of February 29, Bailey emails Frye and writes that Dial is just a Lt. and will pass the information on up the chain of command.
This is where Monegan's comments come into play.
In the July 18 ADN story, Monegan stated that Bailey was the last person he spoke to about the Wooten issue. He said he ended up speaking to him after Bailey's calls to a Trooper Commander and several others about Wooten ended up in Monegan's lap. Obviously one of those calls was the one recorded with Lt. Rodney Dial.
" 'We can't do this. This is not what we are supposed to do,' " Monegan said he told Bailey. But yet Frank Bailey maintains he never spoke to Walt Monegan about Palin's ex brother in law.
Meawhile, after saying she was unaware of Bailey's recorded phone and that it gave the false impression he was calling on behalf of her and her husband, Governor Sarah Palin called Bailey's actions out of bounds and just plain wrong.
And as punishment, the governor gave Frank Bailey a two month paid vacation.
(photo by Dan Carpenter, KTUU)
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