SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Joe McGinniss goes “Rogue” on Sarah Palin
Oct 11, 2011, 5:48 PM | Updated: Oct 15, 2011, 1:59 pm
 McGinniss’ book has had Sarah Palin threatening she’ll sue, but no one has filed a lawsuit yet. |
“I was the first person to live next to Sarah Palin who didn’t have a drug record.”
While that might have been the case, the author of “The Rogue,” Joe McGinness said he’s still heard threats that he could get sued by the Palin family. But no one has has filed a lawsuit yet.
According to McGinness, that’s likely because his controversial book about the once hopeful vice presidential candidate went through a thorough legal vetting process at Random House. “There is nothing in it that hasn’t been confirmed as true.”
But there is no doubt that the accusations have Palin denying the books validity. McGinniss tackles such tender topics as Palin’s racism, rumors surrounding her youngest son Trig who has Down syndrome, and her desire to end the division between church and state.
One of the stories McGinniss investigated was about how Sarah Palin fired 20 to 25 employees when she was governor, based on the color of their skin. McGinniss told 97.3 KIRO FM’s Ron & Don Show that this story has become one of the most asked about from his book.
According to McGinniss, Palin told her Chief of Staff that black people made her uncomfortable, and the stem of her discomfort came from a sexual encounter with a black athlete in 1987. “This is such a bizarre story that I decided to check it out,” said McGinniss.
“I spent months trying to find out who this black athlete was,” McGinnis said. Eventually he discovered it was Glen Rice. The story McGinniss had heard from the former Chief of Staff had said Palin was so traumatized by her encounter with Rice, that 20 years later she couldn’t have “black faces” in her office because they made her uncomfortable.
Rice told McGinniss a much different story. “He said, ‘Joe, nothing could be farther from the truth. Sarah and I had a wonderful time together. We both enjoyed ourselves and each other and for months afterwards we stayed in touch.'”
This story, and many others in “The Rogue” continue to be under fire by the Palin family. But McGinniss said even before he wrote the book, the Palins weren’t excited to have him as a neighbor.
In the pilot episode of her TLC show, McGinniss said that Palin said to her husband Todd, “I want you to drill a hole through that fence so I can spy on him.”
No word yet on Palin’s dirt-filled book on McGinniss yet.
