Kempthorne gets $255 housing raise

BOISE – A state panel of lawmakers has approved a $255 raise in Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s monthly housing allowance, breaking a three-year freeze and bringing the total to $4,500.

Idaho is one of a handful of states that does not have an official governor’s residence. The last one was 13 blocks west of the Capitol. It served five governors for more than 35 years until it was abandoned in 1987 because of plumbing, electrical and other problems.

Since then, governors have been given a stipend for housing, paid with a special fund that has a balance of $1.5 million.

At some point, officials hope to use that money to either buy or build a new residence where the governor can live, work and entertain guests.

For the past three years, the governor’s stipend was frozen at $4,245. The stipend is added to the governor’s salary to cover utility, security, phone and housekeeping expenses for his Boise condo, plus federal and state taxes.

Kempthorne spokesman Michael Journee said the governor’s office had no say in the decision and had no comment on it.

At Friday’s committee meeting, Boise Republican Rep. Debbie Field was the first to suggest the $4,500 figure. Several minutes passed before Boise Democratic Rep. Anne Pasley-Stuart gave her support.

“I thought that it’s very reasonable. You have to look at … the fact that we haven’t increased (the stipend) in a long time,” Pasley-Stuart said after the vote.

Democratic Sen. Mike Burkett of Boise cast the only vote of dissent, saying he disagrees with the principle of giving a monthly stipend. He said the state should just buy a house for the state’s chief executive.

Plans to build a $950,000 home on 15 acres northeast of the Capitol were dashed during the 1994 election cycle after Democratic Gov. Cecil Andrus agreed with the view by Republican Phil Batt and Democrat Larry EchoHawk, the year’s gubernatorial candidates, that the plan was a waste of money.

Housing committee members also voted Friday to continue paying $3,600 a year so Kempthorne and other state officials can entertain at the state-owned Alexander House east of the Capitol.

The house, built in 1897, was the home of Moses Alexander, Idaho’s governor from 1914 through 1918.

Payments to use the house go to the Department of Administration, which maintains the building.