Stevens Built $2.7M Road From His House To Favorite Restaurant

GIRDWOOD, Alaska — Just 0.7 miles long, Crow Creek Road isn't a road to nowhere. It runs straight to the Double Musky Inn, a Cajun bistro owned by a Bob Persons, a close friend of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.
It cost taxpayers $2.7 million to widen and pave that road, and Alaska had higher priorities. But an Associated Press examination of government e-mails and interviews with state transportation officials found that Stevens moved the project to the front of the line.
Persons, owner of the popular watering hole where the Republican senator frequently dines, testified as a defense witness this month in Washington, D.C., where Stevens is on trial for corruption.
"This is a classic pork barrel project that just confirms everyone's fears," said David Williams, a vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste. "It's like 'Hey, if you're my buddy, I'll just get you a few million dollars and make you a road to your restaurant.'"
Details of the Crow Creek deal emerged as Stevens awaits a verdict in his trial. He is charged with lying on Senate financial disclosure forms about gifts, including more than $250,000 in home improvements to his cabin, not far from the Double Musky.
Trial testimony indicated that Stevens granted Persons power of attorney to guide the home renovation. Among the many presents Stevens is charged with concealing is a nearly $2,700 massage chair from Persons. Stevens says the chair was a loan. But his explanation of why he kept it in his house for seven years led to one of the more awkward exchanges of his testimony.
Telephone messages left at Persons' home and the restaurant were not immediately returned.
Stevens' spokesman, Steve Wackowski, declined to answer specific questions from the AP concerning Stevens' communications with Persons about the road. In a statement, he said the senator set aside the money at local officials' request and believed paving the road would boost tourism to a historic gold mine two miles beyond where the asphalt ends. LinkHere