Anchorage Daily News

A key player in the Legislature's abuse-of-power investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin is back at work for the state.

Palin announced she'd placed aide Frank Bailey on paid leave Aug. 19, shortly after revealing what she called a "disturbing" recording of a phone call Bailey made to a state trooper.

In the call, Bailey said the governor and her husband couldn't understand why Palin's former brother-in-law, Mike Wooten, still had a job with the troopers.

Whether or not Palin or her administration pressured the Department of Public Safety to fire Wooten is the subject of an investigation approved by a group of legislators in July.

Bailey returned to work as Palin's director of boards and commissions on Thursday, said Palin spokesman Bill McAllister.

"Obviously, (Palin) feels in spite of that mistake in judgment that Frank made, that he has something valuable to offer the office," he said.

A longtime Palin aide who worked on the governor's 2006 campaign, Bailey is now best known for a Feb. 29 phone call to Trooper Lt. Rodney Dial.

In the call, Bailey says Wooten committed various misdeeds, including shocking his son with a Taser.

"Todd and Sarah are scratching their heads: 'Why on earth hasn't this, why is this guy still representing the department?' He's a horrible recruiting tool, you know," Bailey said.

Bailey has said no one asked him to make the call.

Palin shared the call with reporters on Aug. 13. She said she'd just learned of it and denounced it as "just wrong."

Bailey makes $78,528 a year and continued to draw a paycheck while on leave, the Department of Administration reported in August.

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