Pledges top $1 million for mansion

BOISE – More than $1 million has been pledged to renovate the Idaho governor’s mansion, most of it coming from Idaho companies and the state’s richest citizens.

“I’m very encouraged,” said Intermountain Gas Co. President Bill Glynn, one of the people leading the private effort to raise money. “Each week we get some more.”

Billionaire Tim Blixseth, a developer and timber baron, has made the biggest pledge. Last week he announced he would match the first $500,000 raised.

Billionaire potato magnate J.R. Simplot donated the hilltop estate, valued at about $2.1 million, to Idaho in December 2004 to be used as an official residence.

An initial estimate of $2 million to renovate the estate quickly rose to $3 million. Coeur d’Alene developer Duane Hagadone gave the effort an early boost with a $100,000 gift. But only about $235,000 had been raised before the surge in donations this year.

“We’re doing OK,” said Sen. Brad Little, R-Emmett, chairman of the committee that oversees the new residence. “I was glad to see we’re up at that level.”

The renovation would expand the house to 12,000 square feet, and includes a grand entry, a dining area for 150 guests, and four or five bedrooms.

Glynn said that he would like to have all $3 million pledged by the end of the summer.

“I hope it’s like painting,” he said. “The hardest work is in the preparation.”

Even though it is planned as the governor’s mansion, two of three candidates to be Idaho’s next governor say they wouldn’t live in it.

Jerry Brady, the lone Democratic candidate, calls the house on a prominent Boise overlook “fit for a medieval king.”

Dan Adamson, a Chubbock businessman and Republican candidate, would turn it into a bed-and-breakfast, with the proceeds benefiting Idaho education.

U.S. Rep. C.L. “Butch” Otter, R-Idaho, hasn’t said where he’d live if elected, though he’s expanding his home in Star.