“Dissapointing but not entirely unpredictable,” is the also not entirely unpredicatable take of DC Vote’s communications director Kevin Paul Kiger on the U.S. Mint’s rejection of “Taxation Without Representation” for the District’s proposed quarter.

“It’s kind of ridiculous,” Kiger continues, “that the U.S. Mint would take this as a political statement when it’s simply a statement of life in the District for 207 years.”

The phrase faced no fed opposition when it went on license plates in 2000, but as Kiger says: “There was no national DMV that had to approve it.”

As City Desk outlined on Monday, just getting “Taxation…” on the official submission of the coin was quite the coup for DC Vote, and the hits just keep on coming. Google’s throwing back links about the fight and the Mint’s decision from news outlets in Chicago, Wisconsin, North Dakota, India, and—get this—Rhode Island, which has double the population and at least four more members of Congress than D.C. Thanks for representing, R.I.

As for the hardworking folks at DC Vote, they are moving on after this setback—to Oregon. Three people are heading to the Pacific Northwest the second week of March to talk to people about D.C.’s deal. A similar trip to Montana in January yielded results you can’t buy with ads, according to Kiger, who got to go. He and another DC Voter met with the League of Women Voters, college students, various TV stations, and a few editorial boards, landing actual editorials in actual newspapers educating actual residents of Montana, many of whom did not know or, at first, believe District residents have the second-highest per-capita income taxes in the country and are stuck with “shadows” on the Hill. Good luck in Oregon, kids.

(Flickr photo: dbking)