Mansion restoration

KVUE's Jim Bergamo reports

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It's been almost six months since an arson fire seriously damaged the Texas Governor's Mansion.

Now some famous Texans hope a new ad campaign will convince people to donate to the restoration fund.

Since the state is self-insured, there's no insurance company to go to cover the cost of restoring the mansion. That's why those with the Texas Governor's Mansion Restoration Fund hope the public service announcements will help generate donations. The more money that's donated to the fund means the less money taxpayers will have to come up with.

George Strait, LeAnn Rimes and baseball great Nolan Ryan are among those currently featured on public service announcements encouraging people to donate to the Texas Governor's Mansion Restoration Fund.

"Obviously we have some very prominent Texans who are very saddened but interested in the restoration of the mansion," said Pam Willeford, the co-chair of the Texas Governor's Mansion Restoration Fund.

On June 8, an arsonist severely damaged the governor's mansion. One month later, First Lady Anita Perry founded the Texas Governor's Mansion Restoration Fund as a private fundraising effort to assist in restoring the mansion.

"We expect we need to raise between $5 million to $6 million to assist in the restoration," Willeford said.

She says it will still be up to the Legislature to appropriate the bulk of the funding, but it's important lawmakers see there is public support for the restoration. Those who talked to KVUE News saw the pros and the cons in donating to the fund.

"When I first heard about this that they were asking people for donations and money, I was thinking why are we flipping the bill again for something like that and times are tough right now with the economy," said Diane Ewing, who's against donating to the mansion fund.

"It's history; it's something that's been here for a long time and something that needs to be preserved, and you can't let an arsonist take you down, as far as that goes, it's part of your history. You've got to keep it," said Bob Gasser, who supports the idea of donating to the mansion fund.

The state preservation board has not yet determined the exact cost of the restoration. That figure should be revealed when the Legislature convenes in January 2009.