Columnist Jeff German: Quarter design is no gamble

Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2004 | 11:13 a.m.

The people who run the U.S. Mint in Washington have been looking a little stuffy lately.

They have barred Nevada from designing a quarter that promotes gambling, the industry that makes the state tick.

This, of course, makes no sense. It would be like leaving the White House off a tour of the nation's capital.

Without the ability to illustrate gambling, we have no chance of capturing the essence of Nevada on the coin, which is what the Mint wants us to do.

Nevada's quarter is scheduled to be released in 2006. It's part of a 10-year U.S. Treasury Department program, approved by Congress in 1999, to put in circulation unique quarters from all 50 states.

But the people who run the Mint want to take away our creativity in this endeavor, which isn't very smart on their part. This is a presidential election year, and their ultimate boss, President Bush, is locked in a tough fight for Nevada's five electoral votes.

Even though gambling is now legal in 48 states and the nation's leaders come here regularly with their hands out, Mint bigwigs believe gambling has no place in the country's monetary system. They obviously haven't been following the latest tourism figures in Las Vegas.

So Nevada officials have been forced to provide the Mint with a choice of ultra-conservative designs that have little relevance to the Nevada way of life.

One design has a miner swinging a pick with a burro next to him, and another shows an outline of the state with a Desert Bighorn sheep in the wilderness. Still another features the Nevada-grown Bristlecone pine tree and snowcapped mountains. There's also a design with wild horses, sagebrush and, you guessed it, snowcapped mountains.

You can tell that no one sought the expertise of the Hard Rock Hotel's marketing strategists here.

The designs submitted by Nevada officials would go over well at a convention of accountants, but they have no originality. No pizazz. And they don't come close to depicting the wild and crazy perception we have created for ourselves in booming Las Vegas.

Showgirls, slot machines, fake volcanoes, prostitutes, Elvis impersonators and even a bobblehead of Mayor Oscar Goodman would be more accurate images. Anything but a bighorn sheep.

Don't the bigshots at the Mint in Washington understand how much we are indebted to the likes of Bugsy Siegel and Moe Dalitz?

Don't they watch reality TV, "CSI" or "Dr. Vegas"?

Have they not heard the buzz over those racy television ads promoting Las Vegas across the country?

President Bush knows "what happens here, stays here." He made a point of reciting the slogan during his last campaign visit, but he apparently forgot to spread the word to the Mint in Washington.

This has the makings of another campaign issue for John Kerry -- one that could bring the people who run the Mint to their senses.

You can almost hear his new pledge to Nevada voters: "No Yucca Mountain and no quarters with snowcapped mountains on my watch."