Otter’s wife suggests mansion not suitable

BOISE – Lori Otter says it’s time to explore other options to house the Idaho governor’s family because the hilltop mansion donated to the state by potato baron J.R. Simplot, her husband’s former father-in-law, in 2004 may not be suited for her family – or any future first families.

“Frankly it’s not in a condition where I’m comfortable using it,” the wife of Gov. Butch Otter told the Governor’s Housing Committee, a five-member panel that oversees housing for the chief executive, on Friday evening. “I wouldn’t want my dog on the back porch. That thing goes straight down.”

She offered a PowerPoint presentation that outlined the options for the committee, and which included pictures of cracked granite, paint peeling off walls and large empty rooms inside the vacant 7,400-square-foot home.

Otter’s presentation comes as a private fundraising campaign to restore and expand the home has stalled. There’s now just about $475,000 in an account at the Idaho Community Foundation for that effort, with another $1.1 million in pledges not yet banked.

That’s just half the $3 million needed to realize architectural plans that include expanding the 1980s-era home to 12,000 square feet, installing a covered entranceway big enough to shelter a car and adding a grand hall with 12-foot ceilings and dining for 150 people.

Sen. Mike Burkett, D-Boise and a committee member, said the campaign appears to be dead.

“It just doesn’t seem like it’s going to work,” he said.

Lori Otter said even if the fundraising campaign eventually succeeds, the costs for renovation may be more than original estimates.

Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Eagle, said the home’s position on the top of a hill might have a negative symbolic significance for citizens.

“I’m not sure that’s the right message for the governor to be sending, sitting down and looking at everybody else,” he said.

Otter and several committee members said they did not want to appear ungrateful to 99-year-old J.R. Simplot, whose wealth has been estimated at $3.6 billion by Forbes magazine.

Still, she volunteered to lead the effort to look at other options and suggested a couple spots “right off the top of my head.” The committee urged her to press ahead.

One alternative could be building a new home on 13 acres near Fort Boise given by the U.S. Department of the Interior to Idaho as long as it is used to house the governor. Otherwise, the site must be turned over to the city of Boise.

Another option, Otter said, would be “the building you’re sitting in,” referring to the Borah Post Office building in downtown Boise that currently houses the governor’s offices while the Capitol is being renovated until 2010.

She said the fourth floor could be converted to a penthouse, the third floor to a ballroom and the second floor to office space for the governor.

Otter and Mike Gwartney, the director of the Department of Administration and also a member of the housing committee, plan to meet to lay out the options in detail before the next committee meeting, scheduled for Feb. 29.

“Be prepared to make some hard decisions next meeting,” Gwartney said.