5 former Pennsylvania governors are teaming up to help restore the state mansion following arson attack
HARRISBURG — Lesley and Tommy Ridge were nosy kids growing up in Pennsylvania's governor’s residence in the 1990s.
The two children of former Gov. Tom Ridge would often peek their heads into the governor's reception room when they got home from school to see which event their father was hosting.
And on one particular day in 1999, who but Fred Rogers — known to the world as Mr. Rogers, visiting the mansion to accept an award — would wave them into the stately room, invite them to sit down at the piano, and teach the Ridge children how to play his iconic theme song, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
Lesley Ridge, 39, still remembers how to play the song more than 25 years later. She was reminded of the special moment with Rogers — as well as the countless hours she spent playing that piano from ages 9 through 16 — when she saw the same instrument charred and destroyed in harrowing images of the governor’s residence in the aftermath of an arson attack there earlier this month. While Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family slept inside the mansion after hosting a seder on the first night of Passover, a man broke into the residence and started several fires.
Cody Balmer, 38, was charged with attempted homicide, terrorism, and other crimes in the attack on the home of Pennsylvania’s governor, for whom police said Balmer was “harboring a hatred.” Balmer’s family has said he was experiencing a mental health crisis.
“The governor’s residence hadn’t just been a historic residence for my family. It was truly our home,” said Lesley Ridge, who lived in the mansion with her family for years. Seven other first families have also called the Harrisburg residence home. “Now knowing and learning that the fire affected, for me, some of the most personal spaces, you just felt like you lost a piece of the past in that moment.”
The arson attack has led all of Pennsylvania’s five living former governors and six first ladies — Republicans and Democrats alike — to team up to raise funds to restore the historic home, completed in 1968.
The former governors and first ladies will host a private fundraiser at the governor’s residence on Monday in hopes of raising money toward the approximately $500,000 in repairs the residence will need that are not covered by insurance, said former Gov. Ed Rendell, who lived in the mansion during his two terms as governor.
Each of the governors — Rendell, Tom Corbett, Tom Wolf, Tom Ridge, and Mark Schweiker — plan to make their own donations to the fund, Rendell added.
“We had great memories, and we want to contribute to keeping it up,” Rendell, a Democrat, said.
“It’s impactful when the public sees Democrats and Republicans standing shoulder to shoulder,” Rendell added. The group rarely joins forces, he said, but has coalesced to decry political violence, such as the arson at the governor's residence, or the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The fundraiser will benefit the Governor’s Residence Preservation Fund, which is housed in the state’s public-private partnership, Team Pennsylvania. Team Pennsylvania — and the preservation fund itself — have faced scrutiny because as a nonprofit rather than a government entity, it does not face the same level of transparency over its funders.
Shapiro has faced criticism for using the private fund to represent Pennsylvania at major sporting events, such as the recent Eagles Super Bowl win.
A spokesperson for the Team Pennsylvania Foundation noted in an email that people can access its Form 990 for public information about its funds, and that the preservation fund plans to “publicly thank donors who contribute to the ongoing efforts to restore the residence.”
The physical upkeep of the 29,000-square-foot governor’s residence is largely funded by Pennsylvania taxpayers, but the preservation fund is the source for most of the renovations and furnishings for the first family while they live in the residence, several former governors said.
The fundraiser started to take shape shortly after the arson attack, when Corbett and his wife, former First Lady Susan Corbett, began talking about how they could help restore the mansion. Tom Corbett, a Republican who lived in the residence during his four-year term as governor, said they then approached the other governors about ways to replenish the residence preservation fund and help cover the costs to restore the governor’s reception room that was destroyed in the fire.
Corbett noted the geographic diversity across Pennsylvania that each of the commonwealth’s former governors brings to their fundraising efforts — Corbett from Pittsburgh, Wolf from York, Ridge from Erie, Schweiker from Levittown, Rendell from Philadelphia. However, he noted that the former leaders, most of whom have almost entirely avoided the spotlight since leaving office, have had to coordinate so that they are not approaching the same big donors.
“Can you imagine getting four solicitations from four different governors?” Corbett asked, jokingly.
The former governors look back on their time in the residence fondly. For Corbett, it was a quiet cup of coffee on the shaded patio or a peaceful walk after a stressful day. Rendell said he loved to surprise those visiting the residence for public tours as he and his two golden retrievers came down the stairs for the day, as well as grabbing late-night scoops of ice cream directly from the freezer in the residence's kitchen, and pranking the press.
Corbett said he’s confident their upcoming fundraiser will be successful.
“We have a generous population in Pennsylvania, and I think people will significantly contribute to that repair,” he added.
Shapiro last week hosted his first event back at the residence — the annual Easter egg hunt for preschool students — and has already resumed staying at the mansion.
In a news conference after the Easter egg hunt, Shapiro described the former governors and first ladies as “unbelievably supportive,” and said the Department of General Services is working to make the first floor of the residence available for the fundraiser. He hopes for the reception room to be reopened by mid-summer.
