Biden questioned plan to spend on bridge

Jeffrey Simon, a gubernatorial appointee in charge of overseeing stimulus spending for Massachusetts, got a call “from the VP’s office asking him to defend the Foxborough footbridge project,’’ according to a Nov. 12 e-mail between numerous Patrick administration officials obtained by the Globe under a Freedom of Information Act request.

The project had been attracting statewide controversy and media attention at the time.

The bridge was planned to connect two private parking lots owned by Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots. As state officials pushed plans to fund the bridge in October, Kraft and his wife contributed $12,000 to the political accounts of Governor Deval Patrick, Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray, and the state Democratic Party.

Patrick administration officials have said the donations did not affect their support for the project. They said the project was worthy because it would be a key element in attracting a corporate headquarters to an area that has drawn $800 million in private investment from the Krafts.

In a statement e-mailed to the Globe last night, Simon said that he spoke a number of times with Vice President Joe Biden’s office on a wide range of stimulus-related issues. “During one of those conversations, a staff member inquired about the Foxborough footbridge project, which had recently been the subject of media reports, and I explained the project’s economic benefits,’’ he said.

The call from Biden’s office prompted enough concern that Patrick’s aides drafted a list of talking points and held a briefing for the governor in anticipation of a call between Patrick and Biden related to stimulus spending, e-mails show.

Simon said yesterday that the call included officials from other states and that the Foxborough bridge was not discussed. Biden’s spokeswoman could not be reached last night.

The Patrick administration continued to support the footbridge publicly after the call from Biden’s office, sending two Cabinet secretaries to endorse it a few days later when it was up for a regional planning board vote.

But Patrick administration officials were already considering dropping the project, according to e-mails. The night before it was brought to the planning board, the state’s housing and economic development secretary, Gregory Bialecki, was unsure whether it would be yanked, according to an e-mail he sent to other Patrick aides.

Patrick pulled the project from the stimulus list weeks later, citing concerns that it was not “shovel ready’’ enough to qualify for the federal grant. By then, federal officials had also raised concerns about public perception surrounding the project.

Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com.