Idaho Gov. Otter willing to Unload Governor’s Mansion

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter is keeping to himself his opinion about what Idaho should do with the vacant, money-guzzling mansion meant to house the state's chief executive. But comments that Otter made Friday at an Associated Press event in Boise show he's not at altogether satisfied with the hilltop home.

For one, Otter suggested the $180,000 annual cost of upkeep — for electricity, mowing and watering the gigantic lawn below the 7,500-square-foot manse — would be better spent on a public-school classroom. And while Otter refuses to live in the place that once belonged to his former father-in-law, J.R. Simplot, he conceded a future governor not from Boise might. Even then, however, Otter worries the two-bedroom place isn't practical because it's ill-suited to accommodate a governor with a large family.