Both senatorial candidates find themselves under fire within days of the election.

Sen. Ted Stevens is accused of securing a $2.7 million earmark to widen and pave a road that is less than a mile long to just passed the Double Musky Inn in Girdwood. It's a restaurant owned by Stevens' close friend, Bob Persons. The Associated Press reports Stevens pushed the earmark through the transportation committee without congressional approval and worked to keep it hidden.

"It is concerning," said Alaska Democratic Party spokeswoman Bethany Lesser. "Once again we are seeing examples of Sen. Stevens in it for himself and his friends and his family and not the general public and Alaska. This was not a priority for the Board of Supervisors in Girdwood, it wasn't a municipal priority."

Stevens spokesman Steve Wackowski said in a statement to CBS 11: "The Senator believes the merits of the project speak for itself ... Stevens's intent for the Crow Creek Road, which he relayed to state

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officials through his staff, was that any improvements or construction must continue all the way up to the mine."

Then there's Mayor Mark Begich who is once again coming under scrutiny from a political nemesis.

"Mark Begich said he was done with Ray Metcalfe, he'll be done with Ray Metcalfe when he hears that iron door slam shut when he enters a very small room," said Ray Metcalfe.

He ran against Begich in the Senate primary and lost and accuses Begich of lying about his income and

Anchorage Mark Mayor speaking at podium
business deals, the same thing Stevens is on trial for, specifically when it comes to the Calais Towers in Midtown.

"When he was first exposed of this stuff he tried to tell the public that it was part of a commission that he had earned," Metcalfe said. "But when he was pushed to the wall on that he finally had to admit, 'No it wasn't a commission it was unearned income.'"

Begich told the Anchorage Daily News that he did in fact call it a commission and that was a mistake. He said he filed the money as unearned income and the IRS has never questioned it.

"Mark Begich has been open and honest and actually answered these same questions dozens of times," said Begich spokeswoman Julie Hasquet. "The problem is Ray Metcalfe is a liar and he has no purpose in life other than the fact to destroy other people's character."

Begich was recently fined by the Alaska Public Offices Commission for not claiming all of his income on campaign disclosure forms last year.

Right now Stevens and Begich are neck and neck in the polls. A recent one shows Begich with a one point lead over Stevens.

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