When we reported two days ago that an advisory committee to the U.S. Mint had recommended that Benjamin Banneker grace the District commemorative quarter, there was a predicted and understandable groan from many residents. But for D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the decision isn’t final until District residents say it is.

In a release posted on her website yesterday, Norton explained that the committee’s proposal to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was just that — a proposal — and that District residents would have the final say:

D.C. residents will have an opportunity to express their views on the city’s choice for the person who should be on the quarter during the comment period beginning later this week and finishing in late June. Apparently, the recommendation of the advisory committee is an expression of its own views and does not speak for the U.S. Mint, D.C. officials or the residents of the District of Columbia and does not trump the city’s final decision. I sought clarification from the Mint because I was concerned that any pre-approval, even by an advisory committee composed of people that do not even live in the District of Columbia, would be inappropriate.

Ultimately, Paulson will be the one to make the decision as to who we see on the District’s quarter in 2009. But considering that District residents don’t often factor in to federal decisions about their own city, we should probably admit that even an overwhelming show of support for challengers Duke Ellington or Frederick Douglass might not stop Paulson from picking Banneker.