for assay. Commissioners could instead test 21,975 dimes and 11,098 quarters, all made from copper-nickel clad, though as the Associated Press, reporting on the 1973 Assay Commission, put it, "a discovery of a bum coin hasn't occurred in years." Only one in every 100,000 clad or silver-clad pieces was put aside for the Assay Commission, and only one in every 200,000 dimes. At the 1974 meeting, one copper-nickel Eisenhower dollar was discovered which weighed below specification; after reference to the rules, the coin was deemed barely within guidelines. Numismatist Charles Logan, in his 1979 article about the impending end of the Assay Commission, stated that this incident pointed out "the basic problem with the annual trial. First, the members were not exactly sure how their job was done, or what the requirements were. Second, they really did not want to report a fault in the coinage. Finally, even if the one dollar coin had been found faulty, [it would have had] little consequence, except to prompt greater vigilance at the Mint." In early 1977, outgoing Mint Director Mary Brooks sent a list of 117 nominees to the new president, Jimmy Carter, from which it was expected that about two or three dozen names would be selected. Carter refused to make any public appointments, feeling the Assay Commission was unneeded given that the Mint performed the same work through routine internal checks and that the $2,500 appropriated each year was a poor use of taxpayer money. Only government members served on the Assay Commission in 1977–1980. Even so, hundreds of numismatists applied to be on the 1978 commission. Carter made no appointments that year; the only members were those designated by statute. The 1979 meeting, attended by the government-employed commission members and Mint Director Stella Hackel Sims, was held eight days late on February 22 due to schedule conflicts. In June 1979, Carter's Presidential Reorganization Project recommended the abolition of the Assay Commission and two other small agencies. The report estimated that having an Assay Commission cost the federal government about $20,000 and that the work was done better by vending machine manufacturers to avoid having their machines jam. In August, columnist Jack Anderson deemed the commission an example of wasteful spending in Washington, characterizing its activities, "more than a decade ago, the government stopped putting either gold or silver in its coins—but the commission continues to hold its annual luncheon