BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - State legislators and Gov. John Hoeven are getting a good-natured nudge to support a $54 million expansion of the state Heritage Center - from two of Hoeven's predecessors.
Former Govs. Arthur Link, who pushed for construction of the original center in the 1970s, and Ed Schafer, who said he originally considered the Heritage Center a foolish project, said Thursday they believed the expansion was worthy of state backing.
Link said the project would help draw more tourists and coax them into staying longer.
"Gov. Hoeven, that relates to economic development," Link said, bringing up one of the incumbent governor's favorite subjects. "It will be an economic, plus recreational, boon. Not only to Bismarck, but to the whole state ... This plan is going to create some very, very great things."
The Heritage Center, on the state Capitol grounds, is the state's most prominent museum. Its supporters are advocating an expansion project that would almost double its size over six years, adding space for display galleries and collections, a small theater, a cafe, an outdoor patio and sculpture gardens.
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Merl Paaverud, director of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, said the project would cost about $54 million.
The society's foundation recently began an effort to raise $12 million of that sum. The federal government is expected to contribute $12 million, and the state is being asked to provide the remaining $30 million.
Hoeven, Link and Schafer spoke Thursday night about the project at a Historical Society reception for legislators.
Hoeven did not include money for the expansion in his budget recommendations to the 2007 Legislature. He said in an interview that he believes private fundraising should be further along before the state contributes money.
Link and his wife, Grace, have pledged $100,000 for the fundraising campaign, and the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives has promised $250,000, Paaverud said.
Virginia Nelsen, director of the Historical Society's foundation, said the campaign has been under way for about three months. She declined to say how much has been raised so far, but said it could take two years to raise the needed private money.
Schafer, Link and former Govs. William Guy, Allen Olson and George Sinner are serving as honorary chairmen for the private fundraising effort.
Two years ago, the Legislature approved a $5.7 million expansion of the Heritage Center's archival storage space after a protracted debate about whether the project was worthwhile. It is being financed by state debt, and is expected to be completed this summer.
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Schafer said when the original Heritage Center was being built, he thought it was nonsensical.
"I thought, you know, spending money for bricks and mortar, to put a bunch of stuff in it, really doesn't make a lot of sense to me," he said.
Schafer has since reconsidered. When he served as governor from 1992 to 2000, he would often see visitors "streaming in and out of the Heritage Center" from his office window, and he would speak to some about what they thought of it, Schafer said.
"It changed my view of what this facility means," he said.
