Is Robinson Coin Money Well Spent?

In a ceremony on the Treasury steps, officials trumpeted commemorative coins honoring Jackie Robinson, with proceeds going to scholarships for poor inner-city kids.

What they didn’t mention--and what none of the U.S. Mint’s glossy brochures say--is that $1 million, nearly 20% of the expected total, will instead help expand the U.S. Botanic Garden at the foot of Capitol Hill.

Former Sen. Bennett Johnston, a Louisiana Democrat whose wife, Mary, is a vice chairwoman of The National Fund for the U.S. Botanic Garden, got the money diverted late last session.

Nine months afterward, bitterness lingers.

“We felt the overwhelmingly greater priority was educating young men and women who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend college,” said National League President Leonard Coleman, chairman of the Jackie Robinson Foundation.

The developments illustrate the fierce politics surrounding the selection of subjects for the nation’s commemorative coins, pitting worthy cause against worthy cause.

Last October, Congress authorized a $5 gold piece and a silver dollar, both honoring Robinson. Lawmakers approved the bill with little debate. No one mentioned the Botanic Garden would share proceeds with a nonprofit educational foundation established by the ballplayer’s widow, Rachel Robinson.

Mrs. Robinson said she was shocked by Johnston’s demand, but felt she had no choice but to agree or see the legislation killed during the end-of-session crush.

The law provided for 100,000 gold pieces, with a $35 surcharge on each. If they sell out as expected, that would raise $3.5 million for the Robinson foundation, which supported 142 students at 62 schools during the past year.

It also authorized 200,000 silver dollars, with a $10 surcharge, raising $2 million.

To Johnston, the arrangement is fair. His wife had spent years working with others to raise money for the garden. The Robinson foundation proposed its coin at the 11th hour, he said.

“We thought up a creative way to help them and they were pleased as punch,” he said. “They said ‘Thank you’ at the time and I hope they’re still grateful.”