No Quarter
This post is an odd one to write because all it is is a rather long answer to one trivia question: Who wrote the bill which created the most successful commemorative coin series in the history of the United States? This post has nothing to do with my dislike of Mike Castle as he has only proved himself to be an eager lapdog of the Republican Party leadership over the last decade. This is trivia only.
One of Castle’s jewels in his limited legislative crown has been the State Quarters series which earned the U.S. Treasury some $4.6 billion. Back in 2003, the Director of the U.S. Mint said, “Congressman Castle was the catalyst, authoring the legislation that launched this remarkable program, the most popular in United States Mint history.” Funny thing about Mike Castle and the Quarter . . . but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Back in mid-90s the Citizens Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee was in serious trouble. There were several commemorative coins that actual lost money. Who can remember the World Cup Tournament Dollar or the U.S. Capitol Bicentennial Dollar? When the Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy met in July 1995 things were bleak for the U.S. commemorative coin program, very bleak.. Chairman of the subcommittee Mike Castle said:
We are here today to review the entire commemorative program. It may be that radical measures must be taken to preserve the taxpayer from risk in a program that is heading out of control.
If that is determined to be the case, this Congress will need to take the action necessary to rectify this situation. Above all, we were elected to preserve the taxpayers’ interest.
But all of that changed with the testimony of numismatist Harvey Stack:
. . . we could do the first 13 States and issue new commemorative coins every year or two that would commemorate the other States as they came into the Union, and then cover at least the first 50 States. It would be historical.
Mike Castle’s response:
I might say it is a brilliant idea, Mr. Stack. Delaware was the first State.
In one breath Castle recognized a great idea, and then said something true, but truly stupid. And just to piss off Glenn Beck, it should be noted that Stack’s idea originated with a Canadian commemorative coin series. Two years later in September 1997, Mike Castle introduced HR 2414 50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act. The act passed the House but never made it to the floor of the Senate. So, here is the question again, but this time with the answer.
Q: Who wrote the bill which created the most successful commemorative coin series in the history of the United States?
A: Senator John Chafee of Rhode Island
Why did Chafee’s legislation win out over Castle’s? Given the dismal history of the U.S. commemorative coins, Chafee’s legislation gave the Secretary of the Treasury an escape clause, an opportunity to terminate the program if it wasn’t making any money. Castle’s did not.
The Secretary shall take such actions as may be necessary to ensure that minting and issuing coins under this section will not result in any net cost to the United States Government.
Considering that cost was Castle’s major concern back in 1995, it is odd that he did not include this in his legislation. However we’ll save that question for another time because as I said at the beginning of this post that all I was doing was asking and answering a simple trivia question.
Tags: Mike Castle, Quarters, Trivia, US Senate-DE
Still, Castle was the one who proposed the legislation to make the state coins so I think he deserves credit on this one.
And like I’ve said before I prefer to call them CastleMints. 🙂
I guess it comes down to how he tries to take credit for it. “I wrote the legislation that created the state quater program” would be incorrect. “I introduced the idea and the first legislation that eventually became the state quater program” would be more accurate.
Also, If I’m reading it correctly, Chafee’s original bill was very similar to Castle’s. It was then amended (it looks like) by Alfonse D’Amato (R-NY) to include some other commemorative coins, as well as what I think became the Sacagawea dollar. It seems like it was actually D’Amato’s amendment that added the “We ain’t takin’ a hit on this one” clause. Also, Roth was a co-sponsor of the Senate bill.
Anyway, I do believe Castle was instrumental in getting the State Quarter Commemorative Series passed. Simply put, as I said above, this post is just an answer to a trivia question similar to, “Who wrote the ‘Autobiography of US Grant’?”
But it does point out that these kinds of legislative efforts are rarely a one-man show. They often steal other people’s ideas — and at least this one wasn’t bought and paid for by a lobbyist. And the fact that Castle is widely credited with this seems to point out the real lack of depth of his legislative achievements. Or that he is running away from some of the better ideas he’s been a part of *cough* cap and trade *cough*. And while the commemorative quarters is cool, you sort of wonder what didn’t get done in favor of rolling out commemorative quarters.
Which is more true:
Mike Castle proposed the state quarter program.
or
Al Gore was instrumental in creating the Internet.
What a fraud Castle is. Just when I think that I could not like him any less.
Then why don’t you blog about ‘xactly what happened last year when he “apologized?”
So Castle’s biggest accomplishment was early in his House career? Has he done anything in the last decade?