Fund grows to renovate new governor’s mansion

BOISE – Duane Hagadone and the Hagadone Corp. donated $100,000 on Wednesday to kick off a fund-raising drive to renovate J.R. Simplot’s hilltop mansion into a permanent residence for Idaho governors.

“We hope that will be a new benchmark for other corporations in the state, and individuals,” Hagadone said at a press conference in the governor’s office. “Let’s get this money raised … so that Pat and Dirk could be the first to reside in this new home.”

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and his wife, Patricia, welcomed the gift, which Kempthorne called “a significant financial contribution so that this residence for Idaho governors can become a reality.”

The project still may not be done in time for Kempthorne to move in before his term as governor ends in early 2007, but he said he hopes it is, “even if it’s just one night.”

Simplot, the self-made billionaire whose landmark home sits atop its own, green-grass-covered hilltop overlooking Boise, and his wife, Esther, joined the Kempthornes and Hagadone and his wife, Lola, for the announcement. In December, the Simplots donated their home to the state for a governor’s mansion.

As the governor triumphantly held up the $100,000 check, Simplot, 96, muttered, “Well, I just wonder where the hell you’re going to spend it.”

Esther Simplot helped fill that in. “We built the house for the two of us, so it kind of has a bedroom for us, and then he said, ‘We’ll put one other bedroom in for your mother and that’s it.’ “

She said the state likely will want to add additional bedrooms, both for the families of future governors and for guests.

Idaho is one of just a handful of states with no official governor’s residence. That’s been the case since the former governor’s home in Boise became run down and then-Gov. Cecil Andrus refused to live there. It was sold, and the proceeds went into a fund for a new governor’s mansion, but the state never built one.

That fund now has about $1.5 million in it, said Pam Ahrens, head of the state Department of Administration, and generates about $60,000 to $80,000 a year in interest. The earnings – which have been used to offset the various governors’ living costs while Idaho has had no official home for them – will pay for maintenance on the future official residence. Kempthorne now lives in a Boise condo.

Backers estimate that more than $2 million needs to be raised in private donations to reconfigure and furnish the Simplot home, add amenities, and add to the maintenance fund to create a permanent endowment that can cover carpet replacements and other expenses over the years.

Patricia Kempthorne said she hopes the home can be a place for official functions and fundraisers and that the public can be welcomed there for various events, such as holiday open houses.

“We talked about how when the Little League team comes back from the championship, to host that barbecue for the Little League team – we have a place to do that now,” she said.

Added the governor, “I’d love to fix ‘em hamburgers. I’d love to have ‘em jump in a pool.”

Esther Simplot said the large hilltop home once received 2,400 visitors at a single open house.

Hagadone said he first became acquainted with Simplot in “a business venture that he and I undertook in northern Idaho, and it was a big disappointment,” when the two and Harry Magnuson tried to revive the Bunker Hill mine a quarter-century ago. “We failed, and I don’t like failure. But the real gain that I received was getting to know Jack.”

Kempthorne said the Coeur d’Alene businessman’s prominent involvement in the fund-raising drive is a sign that it’s a statewide effort and that the official home for Idaho governors will serve the whole state.

Kempthorne said he hopes that Idaho materials and workmanship can be showcased throughout the home. A Governor’s Residence Fund has been set up at the Idaho Community Foundation to accept donations.

The Simplot home is valued at $2.8 million and comes to the state with 36 acres of grassy, rolling land, along with a giant American flag that Kempthorne has promised will continue to fly.