Palin’s neighbour approached journalist to rent out house for tell-all book

NEW YORK - Sarah Palin’s neighbour approached journalist Joe McGinniss to rent a house beside the former U.S. Vice Presidential candidate’s Alaska home so that he could work on his tell-all book on her, revealed the writer’s son.

McGinniss, who has written immersive journalistic books on topics such as the Nixon campaign, is currently crafting a book about Palin.

The author already profiled the beauty queen turned politician in Portfolio last year.

In an e-mail to a Palin supporter that was published on Politico, Joe McGinniss Jr. said that the neighbour had sought out his father because “the Palins had crossed her (owed her money for renovations she had done at their request and never paid her for),” reports Yahoo! News.

“So she knew McGinniss was writing the book and found him and offered him the house,” the New York Daily News quoted him as saying.

McGinniss, Jr. supported his father’s decision to take the offer, saying that it would be “journalistic malpractice” not to do so.

“We want to read the work of someone who is as close to their subject as possible,” said McGinniss, Jr..

“That’s called reporting … He’s not stalking or peeping or peering or meddling. He’s simply fulfilling his obligations to his publisher and his readers and himself - to get as close to the subject of his book as possible,” he added.

In fact, the National Enquirer reportedly offered more money to rent the house “so they could ’stalk’ and take pictures, etc.”, but the neighbour turned them down, revealed the e-mail continues.

Palin took to Facebook to respond to McGinniss’s arrival.

“Knowing of his many other scathing pieces of ‘journalism’… we’re sure to have a doozey to look forward to with this treasure he’s penning. Wonder what kind of material he’ll gather while overlooking Piper’s bedroom, my little garden, and the family’s swimming hole?” wrote Palin.

McGinniss, Jr. called Palin’s remarks a “middle-school style reaction” in the e-mail. (ANI)