Who Leaked the Palin Tell-All?

Its authors allege it was Sarah's favorite neighbor, Joe McGinniss
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 22, 2011 11:34 AM CST
Sarah Palin Tell-All: Enemy Author Joe McGinniss Accused of Distributing Leaked Manuscript
In this Feb. 4, 2011 file photo, former Republican vice Presidential candidate and Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin speaks at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, Calif.   (AP Photo/Spencer Weiner, File)

Who is responsible for distributing the leaked Sarah Palin tell-all? According to its authors, none other than Joe McGinniss, Palin’s former neighbor, who is also writing a book about her. A letter from the authors’ attorney to McGinniss calls the matter “no more than that of a jealous author sabotaging a competitor via unlawful and unscrupulous means.” The lawyer claims McGinniss received an “unlawfully distributed version of the Work,” which he then distributed between Feb. 16 and Feb. 18, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

The Daily News acknowledges it received copies of the manuscript from McGinniss as well as other sources. The tell-all’s authors are reviewing their legal options, according to the letter. Meanwhile, an Anchorage activist is fighting the book, alleging that former Palin aide Frank Bailey, one of the authors, is barred by the executive ethics act from making money off emails he collected while working for the state, especially since those emails have not and will not be publicly disseminated. (Click to see how the tell-all may have revealed Sarah Palin's secret Facebook page.)

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