|
Quarter Passage Owes Thanks to Sinatra Fan
By David L. Ganz, Numismatic News
January 21, 2008 |
State quarters are now expanded from 50 states to include the District of Columbia and the five insular territories: American Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The nine-year-old program (2008 makes what would have been its 10th and final year) has a new lease on life.
Year 11 was signed into law by President George W. Bush on Dec. 26, 2007, while aboard Air Force One en route to Crawford, Texas. The measure was part of the omnibus spending legislation that tied Congress up in knots since Thanksgiving. The territorial quarter measure, though important to some special interest groups, was incidental.
President Bush signed H.R. 2764, the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2008, also known at the omnibus measure, making appropriations for the Department of State, foreign operations and related programs for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2008, after winning most of his battles with the Democrat-led Congress.
Section 622 of the 1,235-page bill is the operative one for collectors. It contains a mere 756 words in the context of a bill that contains some 279,154 words in all. But the words are those that residents of Washington, D.C., have sought to hear for 10 long years. Surprisingly, the leader to the promised land was not Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., a longtime advocate - but a New York congressman, Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y.
Born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, on Oct. 24, 1943, Serrano moved to the Bronx with his family when he was a young boy. He grew up in Mill Brook housing project in the South Bronx and attended local public schools. From 1964-1966, Serrano served in the 172nd Support Battalion of the U.S. Army Medical Corps.
After an honorable discharge from the Army, he returned to the Bronx and worked in a bank and as a school administrator before his election to the New York State Assembly in 1974. Today, U.S. Representative Serrano represents the 16th Congressional District of New York in the Bronx.
Now in his 10th two-year term, he is the only congressman from New York City on the House Appropriations Committee and serves as chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. This chairmanship allows Serrano to lead the subcommittee that oversees multiple agencies' budgets.
Among the agencies: the Treasury Department, the the U.S. Mint, the District of Columbia, the Judicial branch and other agencies. He is also Senior Whip for the Majority Whip operation, a position through which he helps develop strategies to marshal support for party positions and legislation. He is now the most senior member of Congress of Puerto Rican descent.
Serrano is also a longtime fan of Frank Sinatra, the crooner from Hoboken, N.J. The last time he took a shine to numismatic matters was a decade ago, when he was prime sponsor to award a congressional gold medal to The Voice. He did so as a minority member.
On April 29, 1997, Rep. Michael Castle, R-Del., then chair of the House coinage subcommittee, moved to suspend the rules and award Sinatra the congressional gold medal.
The legislation, Castle said, "has not received any special treatment. I told.... Serrano that it must demonstrate wide support by getting 290 sponsored in the House. .... The bill has 302 cosponsors, including bipartisan support from members of the House leadership."
Rep. Floyd Flake, D-N.Y., ranking minority member of the House coinage subcommittee that handles congressional gold medals, also congratulated Serrano for "his diligence, his tenacity," complaining that Serrano "has been driving me crazy trying to make sure that at the point that he had his 290 signatures we would be willing to bring it to the floor."
Serrano noted his backing was due to his father, who when he "came back from the Army after World War II .... brought home with him to Puerto Rico a set of 78 RPM records .... my introduction to the English language, and .... my introduction to the voice of Frank Sinatra."
Serrano acknowledged that he owns 290 Sinatra records, LPs and hundreds of CD's and tapes, and even noted that his "e-mail address is Frank2 even though my name is Jose." Well, he did it "his way," and the medal bill passed a year before the crooner's death.
He did it his way, too, on the Territories and D.C. coinage bill - because as the appropriations subcommittee chair, he had the clout to get Puerto Rico - a commonwealth, not quite a state, not quite independent - a coin that had been promised along with Washington, D.C., a decade earlier.
Only the promises were forgotten. An anonymous hold in the Senate never allowed it to be considered. The bill was rolled into the omnibus appropriations act by Serrano, passed the House Dec. 18, 2007, then got roiled in controversy over political issues on a higher plane. At one point President Bush threatened a veto.
How the coin provision remained in, together with the restoration of "In God We Trust" to the obverse of the Presidential dollars - removed from the rim of the coin - may have as much to do with the resignation of Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., on Dec. 18 as anything else.
Lott, whose governmental service began as a congressman in 1973, became a senator in 1989. He rose to leadership positions, majority leader (1996-Jan. 3, 2001, and again from Jan. 20-June 6, 2001); then minority leader (Jan. 3-20, 2001; and again from June 6, 2001-Jan. 6, 2003, when he resigned the leadership post over some intemperate remarks. He became a Senate whip in 2007.
Lott was also knee deep with Jack Abramoff, and if a Google search that I did is correct, was actively working on behalf of the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands.
At issue: the Northern Mariana Islands Immigration, Security and Labor Act, whose latest version, H.R. 3079, passed the House Dec. 11 and died, once again, in the Senate.
Some sources suggest that Lott has been the anonymous hold behind the expansion of the state quarter program - to make sure that the Marianas labor and immigration policies did not change. There are almost a thousand Google references to Lott and the Marianas, a 14-island chain in the Pacific.
This marked the sixth time the coin proposal had been before Congress for a vote, but the first time that it passed both houses. It has passed the House in each Congress, staring with the 106th in 2000. It never made headway in the Senate.
In a way, snagging it onto an appropriations rider that had to be passed was smart thinking on Serrano's part. It precluded the usual drill, and in any event, Financial Services committee chair Barney Frank, D-Mass., had made passage of the territories quarter bill a priority; it's one of the first things that the large committee that handles most coinage matters addressed at the start of the 110th Congress, passing it Jan. 23, 2007 - almost as soon as the committee organized.
But then the bill bogged down in the Senate, as it repeatedly has.
For those who don't remember the historical details, the state quarter program emerged from a concept advanced by the Citizens Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee in 1993-1994, refined at a hearing of the House coinage subcommittee in 1995, and thereafter several different congressional laws passed to first study the project, then implemented it.
Among early objectors were the elected representatives of the five insular territories - Guam, American Samoa, American Virgin Islands, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands - plus Washington, D.C. Their non-voting delegates in Congress spoke up in debate and were promised consideration at a later point in time, after passage of the 50-quarter legislation.
Issuance of these coins was promised by Rep. Castle, when he was chairman of the House coinage subcommittee, and former Rep. James A.S. Leach, R-Iowa, when he chaired the House Banking Committee. Leach is now retired from Congress. Castle, precluded under GOP rules from chairing the coinage subcommittee because of longevity, has moved on to other interests.
State quarter issuance began in 1999 with Delaware, and since then five coins each year have been produced at a rate of one every 10 weeks by the U.S. Mint until, at the end of 2008, the entire 50 state series will be completed.
Since there are six coins in 2009, the coins will be produced at an even greater pace, once every eight weeks or so.
Rep. Norton introduced her own legislation in 1999, after Castle's bill had already been enacted. Castle had pledged his support for the add on of America's trust territories, but had stepped down as committee chair.
His successor, Rep. Spencer Bacchus, R-Ala., according to Norton, "pledged full support and cooperation in helping with this effort," but that legislation went nowhere. The leadership move behind this bill seemed to assure its ultimate success but no one expected it to take nearly the whole life of the state quarter program.
Rep. Faleomavaega, D-American Samoa, commented that "American Samoa has a long, proud history of supporting the United States - ever since the traditional leaders of the main island of Tutuila ceded their island to the United States on April 17, 1900."
H.R. 5010 was introduced in the 106th Congress, eight years ago, to fulfill the same goal of including the territories and D.C. with the states whose coins are to be issued. Norton participated in the debate, making sure to lobby for Washington, D.C., as a coin component.
"I appreciate especially the initial work of the then chairman of the committee, the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle), and, of course, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bacchus), the current chair, who has worked as tirelessly with us as we have with him to make sure that we would get to the day when all American jurisdictions would be included in the coin commemoration act under discussion here today," she said.
"When the District and the four insular areas were inadvertently left out of the 50-State Commemoration Coin Program Act, we did not see any reason to hold everyone else up. We thought that the act should proceed so that the 10-year period for incorporating states could go forward because we had the assurance of the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle) that D.C. and the insular areas would indeed be included. I knew he would keep his word. There was never any doubt about that."
She continued with the timeline of events. "Not only did he move immediately in that direction by joining all of us who are delegates as a co-sponsor of the bill, but the gentleman from Alabama also never lost a beat in continuing in that tradition until the work was done."
Significantly, she said, "no damage has been done because there is a 10-year period according to date of admission to the Union, and, therefore, they would not have gotten to us anyway before now."
"We are very pleased that the first 10 States are already online, some of them joyously touting their coin. We know that the differences between the States, the District and the territories was never meant to be invidious and never has been in this body; and we have never been so treated in this body. We are all Americans, and we appreciate that this body has, for the most part, included all of us whenever possible. That was always the intent on both sides of the aisle here."
It did not turn out that way. Despite 1999 passage, it came to naught. Then on Sept. 7, 2000, the Banking Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy which handled coinage matters approved two bills by voice vote, H.R. 5010, the District of Columbia and United States Territories Circulating Quarter Dollar Program Act, and H.R. 3697, the 2002 Winter Olympic Commemorative Coin Act.
Norton testified at the September 2000 hearings on the legislation that, "The District of Columbia and the four insular areas were inadvertently excluded from the 50-states bill when it went to the floor on suspension. Rather than seeking to stop the bill on the suspension calendar, we worked with Congressman Mike Castle, then chair of this subcommittee, who agreed to co-sponsor a bill .... [that] would make D.C. and the insular areas part of the 11th year of the program."
Overwhelming approval was then given by the House of Representatives on Sept. 18, 2000, to H.R. 5010. By a margin of 377-to-6, with 50 members absent and presumably campaigning in tough election fights, the House approved the legislation initiated by House coinage subcommittee chair Spencer Bacchus, Banking chair James Leach, former coinage subcommittee chair Michael Castle and representatives from each of the territories.
In the ensuing Presidential election battle, the proposal got lost in the Senate. It took a year to get it back on track.
Last time out, six GOP congressmen opposed the measure: John Boehner, Ohio.; Peter Goss, Fla.; Gary Miller, Calif.; Ron Paul, Texas; Edward Royce, Calif.; and Bob Schaffer, Colo.
Boehner commented, "None are states and they should not be treated as such," adding that the remedy he favored was to require them to apply for statehood.
Miller said through his press secretary that "they are not states" and that he wanted the program kept "to the 50 states."
Paul said through a spokesman that there were "too many coins to collect" and that he had constitutional objections to the issuance of these additional pieces. This year, 2008, he's running for President.
Four more times in the past 10 years, the House voted to issue the new coins before the Senate acted.
Passage by the House on Oct. 7, 2002, of legislation that would add the District of Columbia and five Amerrican trust territories to the tail end of the 50 state quarter program made good Castle's promise from when he chaired the House coinage subcommittee in 1997. But again the bill went nowhere.
New legislation, identical to the old, was sent on to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs in mid-2004; that committee already had custody over H.R. 2993, introduced in the House by coinage subcommittee chair Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. The measure passed the House March 25, 2004, and was sent to the Senate four days later.
Castle took the opportunity of the House passage of the measure to praise the 50-state quarter program that he legislatively authored. "The state quarter program - which reached the halfway mark at the end of December - has dramatically increased general knowledge of the historical contributions of our 50 states."
He continued, "The legislation passed today would do the same for the District and the territories. These areas have some of the highest enlistment rates in our armed forces; have made many historical, cultural and athletic contributions to our nation, and this bill we consider today is a great opportunity to recognize them, in artwork on the reverse of the quarters."
Although he has moved from chair of the House coinage subcommittee to chairing an education subcommittee, he expressed the thought that, "As an education tool, recognizing D.C. and territories is imperative. Students are learning about the 50 states with this program. Unfortunately they may know even less to begin with about the history and role of D.C. and the territories. This legislation will serve as a great tool to rectify that problem."
Former Mint Director Henrietta Holsman Fore, now an assistant secretary of State, took a different perspective. She told me while she was Mint director that "The United States Mint does not comment on pending legislation," which is always the view that the Mint takes on a prerogative of issuing coins, which is given to Congress by the Constitution.
But she then jumped in with both feet: "However, the United States Mint recognizes the continuing enthusiasm for the 50 State Quarters Program with more than 130 million Americans collecting. If the District of Columbia and United States Territories Circulating Quarter Dollar Program Act is approved, the United States Mint will ensure that the mandate is carried out with beautiful and evocative designs that befit them all."
In the 109th Congress, it was the same story, only this time Norton's bill, H.R. 3885, was introduced. Its quick history: 9/22/2005 introduced in House; a year later, Dec. 9, 2006, the Committee on Financial Services discharged it from consideration and it passed the House the same day, only to die on the vine in the Senate.
That's the history. Now we have the law. The question is, what will the designs be. The Washington Post took an unscientific survey and concluded the Washington Monument was the unique site that ought to be utilized (see box).
Just what the designs should or could be is bound to be examined by local governments - rather quickly. Here are some suggestions:
" District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.), has been the capital of the U.S. since 1800. With 68 square miles, it is about an eighth the size of Rhode Island and would be 51st in size if it were a state. Will its design include its motto, Justitia omnibus (Justice for all), or possibly depict its flower, the American beauty rose?
Other possibilities: the official bird, the Wood thrush, or the official tree, a Scarlet oak, or buildings such as the Capitol, Supreme Court, White House, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, or Georgetown (University and skyline).
" Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, also known as the Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, is 3,508 square miles (about three times the size of Rhode Island) with a population of 3.8 million. Its motto is likely to find its way onto the coinage: Joannes est nomen eius (John is his name). Originally a part of the Spanish empire, it became an American posssession in 1898 and has a rich coinage history all its own.
" Guam, whose motto is "Where America's Day Begins," is a U.S. possession since 1898. With 217 square miles and a population of 152,000, it fell under Japanese control during World War II and was liberated in July and August of 1944. This island is in the north Pacific Ocean, about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines and is organized as an unincorporated territory of the United States. Policy relations between Guam and the United States are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Insular Affairs.
The territorial flag forms a basis for one possible coin design: dark blue with a narrow red border on all four sides; centered is a red-bordered, pointed, vertical ellipse containing a beach scene, an outrigger canoe with sail and a palm tree with the word GUAM superimposed in bold red letters. Another possibility: Chamoru males, prior to the 1700s, were mariners and star navigators who sailed the Pacific utilizing "Flying Proa" canoes, which were hydrodynamically swifter than Spanish galleons. The people were also ocean divers whose catches were large fish from the deep. The Spanish, in order to control the population of warriors "Magas I Tasi," whom they had battled in the 1600s, forbade seafaring and destroyed the canoes. The art of ocean navigation and deep-sea spearing was lost, but young Chamorus are making the effort to revive the culture today.
" American Samoa, a U.S. territory since 1900, is 77 square miles and consists of seven islands in South Pacific. Located about 2,300 miles from Hawaii, its population is about 64,000. Located 14 degrees below the equator, American Samoa is the United States' southernmost territory. It is located in the heart of Polynesia. If you drew sides of a triangle from Hawaii to New Zealand to Tahiti, you would find Samoa in the middle. Western Samoa is a neighboring independent country that shares the same culture.
For coin design, a motto might appear: Samoa muamua le atua (In Samoa, God is first). One idea for design: Port of Pago Pago (Island of Tutuila); another, the National Park of American Samoa that has been established, along with Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Or there might be a thematic honoring of the fa'a Samoa - Samoan way.
" U.S. Virgin Islands, acquired from Denmark in 1917, is an unincorporated territory of the United States administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior. With 171 square miles and a population of 120,000, the islands are between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east of Puerto Rico.
St. Thomas has one of the best natural, deep-water harbors in the Caribbean. Design themes might go towards natural fauna or aviary. For example, the Yellow breast bird, or the Yellow elder or Yellow trumpet flower are possibilites. So are its fabled beaches and fauna.
" Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands is actually a United Nations Trusteeship administered by the United States since 1947. Its size is 189 square miles (2.5 times the size of Washington, D.C.) with a population of about 69,400. Its capital is Saipan; the islands themselves are known for volcanic rock formations, Saipan Lagoon, underwater corals, tropical reef fish and World War II wrecks.
These islands in the north Pacific Ocean are about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines. The commonwealth is in political union with the United States; federal funds to the commonwealth administered by Interior's Office of Insular Affairs.
The Marianas Campaign of World War II was the most decisive battle of the Pacific Theater. With Saipan secured on July 9, 1944, U.S. forces were able to cut off vital Japanese supply and communication lines, and American B-29 bombers moved within range of the Japanese homeland.
The end of the war with Japan followed 14 months later. American Memorial Park honors the American and Marianas people who gave their lives during the Marianas Campaign of World War II. At the Park's Court of Honor and Flag Circle, the American flag proudly flies, flanked by the flags of the U.S. Marine Corps, Army, Navy and Air Force. Surrounding the flags is a memorial containing more than 5,000 names of those who made the final sacrifice for freedom.
We will know what is chosen in the coming months.
Add to: del.icio.us digg
With this article: Email to friend Print
Something to add? Notice an error? Comment on this article. | |