Keavett Creed

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Keavett Creed was a major political figure in the early 26th century and the third President of the The Terran Republic .

Early Life

Born in 2470 in Gresham's Township on New Berlin, Keavett was born to a middle class parents. Keavett attended good schools and studied law and business at Koenigsburg College on New Berlin. Whilst in law school, he was considered a strong legal mind and an excellent debater.
Keavett graduated near the top of his class and was immediately offered a role as a corporate lawyer by Allied-West, which he agreed to with a large signing bonus.
Keavett met his future wife, Adaline Wiess at law school and the two married two years after graduating law school. They had one child, Lawson Creed, born in 2500

Corporate Lawyer

Keavett joined the firm "Haley, Woods and Hart" in 2493 as an associate counsel, specializing in contracts. His only client would be Allied-West and he traveled extensively between New Berlin and Mars to attend to corporate business.
In 2497, with the collapse of the Empire , he returned to New Berlin to oversee the firms adjustments under the newly formed Terran Republic . He was named interrim manager of the Koenigsburg office.
In 2500 he was named a junior partner and managing lawyer of the Koenigsburg office. His estimated net-worth was over ten million adjusted dollars at this point.
In 2510 he began to scale back his legal work and was named "Of Counsel" by the firm as he began to increase his involvement in politics.

Politics

Keavett was courted for political office while a young corporate lawyer on Mars but turned it down, preferring to advance his legal career.
As he became a highly regarded and influential legal figure in the newly formed Republic, he began to donate money to various political parties including the Centrist's and Destiny Party. By 2509 though, he had become a major patron of the Centrist Party , hailing their strong record of working with the Hansa and their pro-growth agenda.
He formally joined the Party in 2511 and was often seen at major Centrist events. He was a consultant for Addison Morley's Presidential campaign in 2510 and gave occasional legal and commercial advice to the Centrists throughout 2510-2515.
In 2515, he began to be floated as a possible candidate for the Senate but Keavett instead began to talk of running for President on the Centrist ticket. He raised more and more money for the party and visited hundreds of party officials and elected members of the General Assembly.
At the Centrist convention in 2519, he was nominated in the first ballot, winning 59% of the vote to be the party's nominee for the 2520 election. Most polls showed the Centrists stuck at around 10-13% and this gave them little chance of winning the Presidency. However, Keavett privately assured his team that the Centrists would be needed to break the deadlock in the General Assembly and therefore be in prime position to win the Presidency.

Coalition Talks of 2520

After the election had ended, Keavett and his team were approached to back the Social Democratic ticket for President. Senator De Moy and her team laid out their plans but Keavett rejected them, stating that instead they "split" the Presidency, with each of them taking five years.
The Social Democrats balked at this and the talks dragged on and on as each side tried to find a new way to reach the goal of 50% or more in the General Assembly. The Centrist's came under fire from the press for playing hard ball and as the talks dragged on into their fifth month, many began to feel that they were crippling the Republic.
However, an agreement was made and Keavett Creed was elected the third President of the Republic.

President of the Republic

President Creed was sworn into office in September of 2520. The former President, Dahlia Avander-Slade , was not in attendance and the event had a somewhat muted tone.
President Creed laid out his stall for a term focused on growth, prosperity and unity. He hailed the Social Democrats for putting "country ahead of party" and the speech was fairly well regarded by the press.
He named former lawyer Ryley Marcus as his Chief of Staff.

The First Creed Cabinet:

• Leander Ashpool - Destiny Party - Secretary of Defence
• Gawain Knottman - Social Democrat- Foreign Secretary
• Malik Grumman - Social Democrat - Treasury Secretary
• Dr Havan Boaz- Vishnu Elpis- Secretary of Intelligence and Communications
• Dagmar Dreifert - Social Democrat - Secretary of the Interior
• Lucielle Snow - Social Democrat- Attorney General
• Ryley Marcus- Centrist- Chief of Staff

There was controversy almost from the outset, however, as Malik Grumman announced that he had left the Destiny Party and would instead be a member of the Social Democratic Party. This caused a row between Leander Ashpool and his party and the Social Democrats.
In early 2521, there was another controversy as "campaign irregularities" were brought to light by the Destiny Party regarding Vishnu Elpis. Dr Boaz resigned from his role and Dagmar Dreifert from the Social Democratic Party was moved to the role of Secretary of Intelligence and Communications.

The Second Creed Cabinet:

• Leander Ashpool - Destiny Party - Secretary of Defence
• Gawain Knottman - Social Democrat- Foreign Secretary
• Malik Grumman - Social Democrat - Treasury Secretary
• Dagmar Dreifert- Social Democrat- Secretary of Intelligence and Communications
• Dr Maya Ataru-Waitt - Vishnu Elpis - Secretary of the Interior
• Lucielle Snow - Social Democrat- Attorney General
• Ryley Marcus- Centrist- Chief of Staff

Mis-Steps and Gaffes

The Creed administration was dogged by mis-steps and gaffes almost from day one. This ranged from simple things such as late press announcements or trips cancelled at the last minute, to a press released being leaked with "draft language" on it that was intensely critical of a major media outlet.
President Creed also came in personal criticism. He gave a slick but shallow address on the war on Nova Terra in March of 2521 and dodged questions from the gathered press.
During a budget hearing meeting, a leaked taping of the talks revealed that President Creed's only major contribution in the three hour meeting was to complain about the seating arrangements and the layout of the conference room.
The early cabinet reshuffle was another black-eye for the administration, though President Creed shifted the blame onto Vishnu Elpis for withholding information regarding their campaign funding.
In July of 2522 the Creed administration made another unforced error when the President, thinking he was "off-mic" whilst talking to a talk show host, referred to the General Assembly as "a bunch of glorified town-clerks" and stated that Republic politics was "all about money-talks".
In September of 2522 Ryley Marcus stepped down as Chief of Staff and was replaced by Dexter McCulloch, a former journalist and a veteran Centrist political insider. The hope was that he would bring order to the Creed administration.

The Hundred Days

In April of 2524, President Creed departed the Presidential offices on Earth to return to New Berlin to a rented estate. He took his cabinet papers with him and was "kept informed" of the political process whilst away. Attorney General Lucielle Snow (S/D) was named as Designated Successor.
In early June of 2524, a rumor began to spread on Earth that the President had not returned from his trip and members of the General Assembly and the Senate began to call for an explanation. The Administration scrambled, stating that the President had "returned many times" and that he had kept informed.
The General Assembly began to call for a formal hearing on the matter and members of Gurava and the People's Emergent Party promised to bring this to a vote, though there was some feeling that it may not pass the whole assembly.
Dexter McCulloch resigned as Chief of Staff and was replaced by the President's Communications Director Thale Whitaker.

The Third Cabinet Reshuffle

In February 2525 President Creed accepted the resignations of his "second cabinet" so he could choose who to appoint or not appoint, rather than be forced to fire members of the cabinet. There were intense and acrimonious discussions between the SDP and Valiant but the President was forced to step in and make it clear if they could agree to coexist, he would only appoint Centrists, Independents and members of Vishnu Elpis to the new cabinet.

• Torance Rafferty -Social Democratic Party -Attorney General
• Celeine Maxtall -Social Democratic Party - Treasury Secretary
• Cordell Beaumont -Valiant -Foreign Secretary
• Gunther Ross - Independent - Defence Secretary
• Joachim Steivar - Social Democratic Party -Intelligence Secretary
• Gawain Knottman -Social Democratic Party - Interior Secretary
• Thale Whitaker - Centrist -Chief of Staff

President Creed generally named Gunther Ross as his designated successor during this period.
The President had some signal successes during this period, with a two billion adjusted dollar budget surplus returned to the tax-payers as a major tax rebate.
The President also agreed to send envoys to the Tazzyn Empire to negotiate their entry into the war to prevent the destruction of the Tranoan Empire.
The other major victory was successful armistice talks on Nova Terra as foreign secretary Cordell Beaumont, working with Elyon Maquessa managed to broker an armistice with Burning Path, pausing the fighting.

Controversy and Legal Issues

President Creed did suffer several more gaffes during this time, with photos taken of him at a golf course instead of a cabinet meeting. There was also considerable embarrassment after a training break booked for the President and his top team was revealed to have cost over three million adjusted dollars.
The President also faced investigation by the Senate for alleged corruption. The President's chief of staff Thale Whitaker, after giving testimony in a fiery senate hearing, resigned from his role and was replaced by long-time legal advice Harriet Everhart.
The President agreed to give private testimony to the Senate committee, much of which was taken off the record as the president cited "executive privilege".
The President suffered from tanking job approval ratings, though never quite as bad as expected.
The final blow to his Presidency was the press story that of the two billion adjusted dollars tax rebate, nearly two hundred and fifty million adjusted dollars had gone to billionaires including allies and donors of the President.
The Senate committee began a new round of hearings and President Creed announced in May of 2529 that he would not seek a second term. Most polls showed that his support had been badly dented and the Centrist Party may not have agreed to his nomination anyway.
President Creed confirmed he would remain as President until the General Assembly selected a new President in 2530. He handed most of his duties off to the cabinet, with Secretary of Defence Gunther Ross filling in around 50% of the time

Post Presidency

In January of 2530, President Creed confirmed that he had agreed to take up a role as "Of Counsel" with New Berlin law-firm "Daley, Wattingham & Burroughs". He had also been contacted to give guest lectures at several top colleges including Cydonia College on Mars
Facing ongoing legal concerns, President Creed had also hired top defence attorney Jara Costenzo to head up his legal team. Members of the Centrist Party began to spin the narrative that the next President would offer President Creed a pardon.
In December of 2530, President Averssen confirmed that the administration would not be seeking to press charges against the former President. The Attorney General agreed to this and President Creed, whilst not formally exonerated, was able to move on past the issue.
In July of 2533 the former President was named as a consultant by Esprit Du Nacional and in February of 2534 he was named as a non-executive director for the corporation. According to the companies records, he was paid a salary of three million adjusted dollars for his work with the company.
In March of 2540 President Creed gave an endorsement to Xavier Inkerman for President, distancing himself from Vishnu Elpis . He stated that he felt the merger between VE and the Centrist Party had been a mistake
In 2544 President Creed took up work as a lawyer for Martian law firm "Douglas, Hale and van Dorn" as Of Counsel. He generally worked as a political lobbyist. He also took up a role as a Non-Executive director for Sarissa Technology and gave guest lectures.
In 2555 President Creed's health took a turn for the worst and he retired from legal and corporate work, making very few public appearances.
In June of 2564, President Creed passed away. His funeral was not widely attended for a former President.

Species

Human

Year of Birth

2470 120 Years old

Birthplace

Gresham's Township, New Berlin

Aligned Organization

The Terran Republic

Related Historical Events

• 2564
  Funeral of President Creed