PR Consultant Helped Palin Grab Spotlight

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks in Wisconsin. Her official calendar traces Palin's swift rise to national prominence this year. (By Joshua Lott -- Getty Images)

The agency signed a contract last year with Marcia Brier, who is based in Needham, Mass. Brier's Web site says she has been a public relations expert for 20 years, working mostly with law and medical firms. She represented Bader al-Saud, the Saudi prince, in his plea deal on a vehicular homicide charge. Another Brier client is the law firm Greenberg Traurig, which is providing legal services to the state of Alaska on the pipeline and recommended Brier to state officials.

Reached by telephone, Brier confirmed that she worked with Palin, "but once she became the vice presidential nominee, I stopped."

Brier began pitching Palin for media interviews as early as October 2007, when an e-mail was sent to The Post.

The media campaign did not take off, however, until this year, after Palin announced that TransCanada was the only firm to meet the bidding requirements for the pipeline. As events unfolded, Brier pitched stories promoting Palin, casting her as the force behind creating the pipeline plan and convincing the legislature to go along.

Media pitches sent to The Post in mid-May were titled "Big Oil Under Siege" and "Alaska's Love-Hate Relationship With Big Oil." Each offered an interview with Palin.

"The announcement of the winning bidder for a new Alaskan pipeline is a major blow to ExxonMobil, BP, and ConocoPhillips, the three oil companies operating in Alaska," Brier's pitch said. "These companies have blocked construction of a new pipeline for decades. . . . But now, the new governor of Alaska has devised a way to circumvent Big Oil's delaying tactics."

Another pitch said: "Even Alaska's upstart governor, who has been key in pushing through the pipeline project that oil companies detest, depends on these very companies for her family income. Her husband, Todd, works for BP as a field worker."

Adding to the media's interest in the 44-year-old governor was the delivery of her fifth child, Trig, on April 18. Palin flew home from a Republican Governors Association meeting in Texas to have the baby at a Wasilla hospital, and the schedules show that she returned to work three days afterward. She resurfaced to attend a meeting on the pipeline at the Capitol.

McCain shows up twice on Palin's calendar during the months he was considering her as a potential running mate. In February, he hosted a gathering with governors at a Washington hotel during the Republican Governors Association's winter meeting. The next month, Palin promoted McCain at the Alaska Republican Party's annual convention in Anchorage, reading a letter from him that expressed his regrets for not being able to attend.

On May 22, Palin recommended that the legislature approve the selection of TransCanada for pipeline construction. That same day, Brier scheduled an interview for Palin with the New York Times. She also did telephone interviews with The Post, Fox News, Fortune magazine and "60 Minutes" this spring and summer.

In June, Palin called the legislature into special session to consider the pipeline proposal as well as her plan to give state residents $1,200 oil-dividends checks. The Wall Street Journal flew in to shadow the governor, her calendar shows.

Before long, the spotlight on Palin had expanded to include personal profiles and stories about her staunch opposition to listing polar bears as endangered. People magazine, which sent a reporter to follow her, featured her in a cover story with photos of her holding Trig.