Xavier Inkerman

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Xavier Inkerman was a major politician from the mid 26th century. He was the 5th President of the The Terran Republic

Early Life

Born to the wealthy and influential Inkerman family on Earth, Xavier was born in Dhaka City in 2490. His father, Holland Inkerman, was a former Navy officer and a member of the Imperial Diplomatic corps and his grandfather, Lord Horus Inkerman, had been Chief of the Imperial General Staff
Xavier attended top prep schools and was considered a superb student, known for his intelligence, his wit and his charisma, though also for his occasionally poor behavior and his tendency towards arrogance.
Xavier attended Cydonia College where he graduated with a BA in Political Science and Journalism.
Xavier married Gwendoline Massey, the daughter of a wealthy Earth businessman in 2518. They had two children, Everett (born 2520) and Astrid (born 2522)

Business Career

Following graduation, Xavier took a tour of the Terran worlds, spending nearly 16 months travelling and doing various odd jobs, largely in journalism before returning to Mars where he took up work as a private broker. Using seed money from his family, Xavier developed a reputation as a bullish trader and increased his portfolio from the initial two point five million adjusted dollars to eighteen million adjusted dollars in four years as a trader.
Xavier moved back to Earth in 2516 after his father fell sick and Xavier assumed control of the Inkerman investment business and large portfolio of properties across Earth and Mars. Xavier was appointed President of the family trust and attended many charity events on Earth and he was frequently seen at political events.

Politics

The Inkerman family had long been donors to conservative political parties and Xavier continued this trend, donating money to the Valiant Party on Earth and occasionally speaking for them, as well as attending various public functions and fund-raisers.
Known to be a political conservative himself, he was courted to join Valiant Party and stand in the 2520 election but he rejected this offer.
Instead Xavier stood for election in the Diet of Earth, comfortably winning a seat representing Cape-Town and the surrounding area, an area where the Inkerman family hold considerable sway due to their land development in the area As a member of the Diet, Xavier was an Independent but he often voted with the Valiant Party.
Xavier became well known for his excellent speeches but also for his overblown turns of phrase and his arrogance. During a press conference with the Chairman of the Diet, Xavier referred to them as "two of the most important politicians on Earth, though only one of us will go on to bigger things".
In 2530, Xavier Inkerman formally announced that he would seek office in the Republic Senate. Standing as a conservative Independent, he was given little chance of winning against popular Senator Justus Markham (SDP). However due to a combination of poor press for Senator Markham and money spent from the Inkerman family fortune, Xavier Inkerman achieved a shock result and was elected to the Senate in 2530 with a razor thin majority.

Senator

Taking up his seat in the Senate in April of 2530, Senator Inkerman quickly assembled a strong team around him, led by long time family "fixer" Tavon Willis who served as his Chief of Staff. Senator Inkerman got a lot of press during his first year thanks to his speeches, willingness to appear in public events and being from Earth and the capital
However after a few years he began to fade slightly from view during the war. As a hawk, he was fully supportive of the war effort and often spoke at events on Earth calling for new volunteers and for people to buy war-bonds to support the war-effort.
In 2535, Senator Inkerman was a key voice in supporting the so-called "Eleutheria Plan" to ally with the Dhau Empire. However this treaty was defeated in the Senate thanks to the SDP.
In 2536, Senator Inkerman began to call for an oversight hearing into allegations of corruption within the SDP, creating the so-called "Inkerman committee". Co-chairing the committee with Senator Elise Rennan (Ravenheart), he began to call various members of the Averssen administration to testify.
These committee hearings became must-see political events as Senator Inkerman used them as his "bully pulpit" to attack political opponents and ridicule them. He was, however, fully respectful to some of those testifying including Secretary of Defence Rita Haynes (VE).
The commmittee hearings reached their zenith with the explosive testimony of Mallick Grumman, who was accused of giving out cabinet places in return for campaign donations. The contentious hearing saw the two verbally spar but no fatal blow was landed, though the court of public opinion was firmly against Grumman and the SDP.
Senator Inkerman, however, was unable to give the same sort of treatment to the President himself who deftly parried away his accuasations during their committee hearing
After President Averseen was impeached by the General Assembly, Senator Inkerman voted to convict but the measure was defeated in an 8-4 vote.
With huge levels of press support and massive sums being donated to his campaign warchest, Senator Inkerman set up an exploratory committee in 2538 and then in June of 2539 he announced he would seek the Presidency.

Controversies

There were some unproven allegations against Xavier Inkerman during his time in the Diet of numerous affairs whilst in Dhaka. Inkerman successfully sued one corporation for slander regarding one of these allegations.
As a Senator, Inkerman had a reputation for being a very tough boss and his staff had a high turnover of staff, with several making comments that alluded to bullying. No formal complaints were made against him.
During his first five years as President, three top staffers were fired due to alleged clashes with the President and his chief of staff.

Candidate for President

Senator Inkerman initially stood as an Independent, calling on conservatives to back his Presidency. His campaign was based around reforming the corruption of the SDP and their allies, as well as increasing the strength of the Republic Navy and on the concept of "patriotism".
In January of 2540, Senator Inkerman attended the Valiant Party nominating convention from Houston and won the nomination in the first ballot, despite not formally being a member of their party.
With the support of Valiant, generally with strong polls, Senator Inkerman became the new front-runner in the race and quickly moved to consolidate support on the right, agreeing a joint-list with the Isolationist Party and then an informal alliance with Ravenheart .
During the campaign, Senator Inkerman was a tireless campaigner, giving over a hundred and fifty speeches and often working eighteen hour days whilst on the campaign trail. His campaign also attracted very large donations from the Hansa and other corporate minded allies.
He spoke often about patriotism, his pride in the Republic's military and also contrasted the spirit and purpose of the Republic with the lack of direction and identity from the Federation.
On the eve of polling day, most pundits believed that Senator Inkerman had the best route to the Presidency but he did face a late challenge from Vishnu Elpis candidate Nasim Karembeau. However a sudden attack on Karembau appeared to make an Inkerman and Valiant victory all but certain.
After Valiant came out top in the polls with 23% and the conservative bloc had 45% of the General Assembly, talks began to form a new government. The support of Vishnu Elpis was sought and the SDP made a counter-case but in May of 2540, Senator Xavier Inkerman was formally elected President of the Republic in a fairly broad conservative alliance.
His acceptance speech:

My fellow citizens of the Republic, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the faith you’ve shown me today in electing me President. I do not take this role lightly but I tell you that I cannot wait to get started on the work that needs doing. Our Republic has lit the way in the quadrant for Terrans in what has been the darkest century for our races, and we shall rekindle that light and renew that hope with a bold, decisive leadership that the Republic has needed. I ask those that did not vote for me to hear me out, to give my government a chance and to try to step away from the partisan rancour of the last ten years. There’s so much we can build together if we choose to set aside petty differences. And to those that are ready to roll up their sleeves, I say that this is our moment and whilst the work will be challenging, I have no doubt we shall accomplish miracles together over the next ten years! Thank you

President of the Republic

President Inkerman was officially sworn into office in May of 2540. He moved quickly to put together his cabinet and suprirsed many by appointing Leander Ashpool as his Chief of Staff, stating that "you couldn't ask for a better Chief of Staff than the founder of the Republic."
He also appointed longtime family fixer Tavon Willis as his Special Counsel to the President, giving him a wide array of access and supervisory powers.
The first Inkerman Cabinet:

• Gerhardt McCain - Isolationist Party - Secretary of Defence
• Dade McGinnis - Valiant - Foreign Secretary
• Porter Sanderson - Vishnu Elpis Treasury Secretary
• Jesalee Corrick - Valiant - Minister of Intelligence and Communications
• Morse Cutbill - Isolationist - Secretary of the Interior
• Beckett Solarin -Independent - Attorney General
• Leander Ashpool - Valiant - Chief of Staff

The Inkerman's first test was dealing with pressure from the Tazzyn Empire over the construction of a "titan-class" warship in Hressan Space. After talks, the administration agreed to move construction to Terran space around Nova Terra and a long term plan was agreed for the Republic to buy the ship from Strategic Dynamics
Then the administration had to deal with the so-called "Intelligence Crisis" as various Republic intelligence cells made attacks against the The Antares Federation as well as the Hressan Republic. A fully audit of the Ministry of Intelligence was ordered but the President stood alongside Secretary Corrick.
President Inkerman created two new national holidays within the Republic, with "Republic Day" a celebration of the founding of the Republic and "Flag Day" a day to celebrate patriotism and the veterans of wars within the Republic.
President Inkerman also intervened to avoid having to press criminal charges against Governor Mallick Grumman. A compromise deal was agreed that Governor Grumman would resign his office and retire from politics.
President Inkerman also did more press appearances than any previous President, agreeing to more than twenty appearances per year and he had successfully cultivated a good relationship with the press.
During his first five years, the Inkerman administration agreed a major increase in the military budget, increasing spending from 10 billion adjusted dollars in 2535-2539 to 20 billion in 2540-2544.
He wasn't, however, able to arrest the slide of the economy which continued to slow, prompting fears of a recession.
Following the passing of the Third Amendment, creating the office of Vice President of the Republic, President Inkerman elevated foreign secretary Dade McGinnis to be his Vice President
Going into his mid-term cabinet reshuffle, President Inkerman enjoyed very strong support from the public.

Mid-Term Reshuffle

In 2545 President Inkerman made the traditional cabinet reshuffle, starting by replacing his retiring chief of staff, Leander Ashpool. Tavon Willis took the expected step up to become the President's Chief of Staff. He also elevated Kandice McKenna to be his new Communications Director.
The Second Inkerman Cabinet

• Istfan Morgan - Valiant - Secretary of Defence
• Carolyn Gedsey -SDP - Foreign Secretary
• Satarr Tovic - Isolationist -Treasury Secretary
• Alexander Ashpool - Valiant - Minister of Intelligence
• Porter Sanderson - Vishnu Elpis - Minister of the Interior
• Beckett Solarin - Independent - Attorney General
• Tavon Willis - Independent - Chief of Staff to the President

The new administration dealt first with the fall-out of the Cutbill Committee, which concluded whilst AKI hadn't done anything illegal, it had acted unethically. There were bailouts and tax breaks for farmers rolled into the 2545-2549 budget, including tax breaks for working and middle classes to help ease the effects of the recession.
The administration next welcomed Mars into the Republic after negotiations spearheaded by Alexander Ashpool. Mars would not pay Federal taxes for 20 years but this was still considered a massive victory for the Republic and the Inkerman administration.
There was a small political scandal after the President threatened to veto the budget if it contained the 30 billion adjusted dollars of spending across 15 years on the so-called "Titan" warship built by AKI. This was a shock move and put him at odds with House Ashpool but the public appeared to back the move.
The Inkerman administration also backed the new break-away Ekuneri Commonwealth in their struggle with the Karkouri Regime, though they stopped short of material aid. His administration later issued a threat to the Karkouri Regime that helped to cause a collapse in the Regime and a Karkouri Civil war.
The Inkerman government also confirmed the existence of Zzenddi hybrids, who would be identical to other humans. To combat their influence, the administration ordered that all inter-planetary travel would be subject to a DNA check. This law was subject to intense criticism and likely legal challenge

Reunification Achieved

Arguably the biggest achievement of the 2nd Inkerman government was the reunifcaiton of nearly all Terran worlds as the The Antares Federation collapsed and its member worlds asked for membership in the Republic.
The President shared the acclaim with his administration but took many public victory laps and also responded fiercely to criticism from Reiner Ashpool, Robinson Goetze and Kristoffer Axelrod.

Re-Election Campaign

In 2549, Tavon Willis stood down as Chief of Staff to the President, replaced by Kandice McKenna, his communications director. Tavon Willis became chairman of the newly established "Terran Legacy" PAC.
However this proved to be a "smoke-screen" for a re-election campaign as in January of 2550, against the established convention, President Xavier Inkerman announced he would seek the Presidency again in 2550. He would need to win the Valiant nomination but few predicted any significant challenges.
Vice President Dade McGinnis stated that he would not be on the ticket alongside the President in 2550, leading to speculation on who would be the President's running mate.
The break in Republican convention saw the President criticized from both the left and the right but the President enjoyed record high job approval ratings and was very popular, far more popular in fact than his own political party.
After an incredibly bitter campaign, filled with record high spending and bitter recriminations, President Inkerman was re-elected after Valiant rejected the attempt by Vishnu Elpis to form a coalition and formed their own with the SDP, the Isolationists and Ravenheart.

Victory speech: “The election is over and the people of the Republic have, in their enduring wisdom, chosen to grant me a second, unprecedented term as President of the Republic. I am honoured and truly thrilled to have this chance to serve you further. The last ten years saw incredible change, incredible success and also great challenges. The next ten years offers more of the same. We face internal division, an unstable galactic picture and the ominous spectre of war.
But we also can see an economic upturn, with opportunity for all and a chance for growth and wealth for more people across the Republic, with more new businesses being established offering jobs and products to people across all the worlds of the Republic.
We have reunited nearly all the Terran worlds but I will not rest until all that wish to be a part of the Republic return to us. I am committed to bring them all back into the Republic before the end of my term.
We also see warfare and strife on our borders. I promise you as your President, I will never allow Terran worlds to fall to outside aggressors and that our Marines and Sailors will be given all the necessary resources, vital to your protection. I have not and never will shirk from this duty, I have never been afraid to make the hard choices and I will continue in this vein. Thank you for your faith. I promised you miracles during my first term and I promise you more over the next ten years. Trust in me and we will all thrive together!”

2nd Term

The new cabinet was formed in June of 2550 after the long cabinet talks wound down. Kandice McKenna confirmed that Everett Inkerman would be promoted to the role of "Senior Counsel to the President". The President also confirmed Major-General Ashley Tommerson as his new Chief Security Adviser and Janice Gorman as his new Communications Secretary.
Tavon Willis, the President's former Chief of Staff, was named Ambassador to the Rorn Republic.
The Third Inkerman Cabinet

• Vice President MyAnna Wolf (VAL)
• Attorney General Talbot Gezadiss (VAL)
• Treasury Secretary Carpenter Navarro (VE)
• Foreign Secretary Herrick Knottman (SDP)
• Defence Secretary Parvinder Daeley (ISO)
• Trade & Transport Secretary Roddick Dutton (FUP)
• Intelligence Secretary Alexander Ashpool (VAL)
• Interior Secretary Madigan Wilks (SDP)
• Education Secretary Dr Svetlana Cursic (RHC)
• Chief of Staff to the President Kandice McKenna (VAL)

The President set out an aggressive new budget agenda, with a huge increase in military spending, justified as a proportional spend. 40 billion adjusted dollars, making up 65% of all Republic spending, would go to the military. Treasury Secretary Carpenter Navarro confirmed that the budget, which passed in the General Assembly, actually included more debt and that this had been done over his objections.
In 2521, Gurava attempted to pass their Anti-Monopoly bill, intended to increase the tax burden on "very large" corporations. The bill was narrowly defeated after an attempted rebellion by the SDP, put down after Kandice McKenna publicly browbeat the SDP.
Shortly after the defeat of the vote, Madigan Wilks was fired as Interior Secretary.
The Fourth Inkerman Cabinet

• Vice President MyAnna Wolf (VAL)
• Attorney General Talbot Gezadiss (VAL)
• Treasury Secretary Carpenter Navarro (VE)
• Foreign Secretary Herrick Knottman (SDP)
• Defence Secretary Parvinder Daeley (ISO)
• Trade & Transport Secretary Roddick Dutton(FUP)
• Intelligence Secretary Tavon Willis (Ind)
• Interior Secretary Harrington Holmes (VAL)
• Education Secretary Dr Svetlana Cursic (RHC)
• Chief of Staff to the President Kandice McKenna (VAL)

Tovic Investigation

Former Secretary of Defence Satar Tovic had been implicated in a number of crimes, chiefly criminal and corporate corruption. During Beckett Solarin's time as Attorney General, he had appointed a special prosecutor.
After two months of investigation, a plea bargain was made. Tovic would testify against all the other parties involved and accept a sentence of five years of house arrest, a lifetime ban on lobbying and political service and a fine of four million adjusted dollars, representing the maximum fine available to the judge.
This plea bargain was criticized by a number of people, with Senator Stover Bream (VE) launching a blistering attack from t he floor of the senate.
Thirteen others, including two sub-cabinet officers, ended up convicted and sentenced based on the testimony given by Tovic.

The New Berlin Affair

In late 2552, the Deputy Director of Republic Intelligence was assassinated. As a result of this and other intelligence failures, Secretary of Intelligence Alexander Ashpool resigned from office. He was replaced by the President's former Chief of Staff, Tavon Willis.
A special prosecutor was appointed by the Attorney General and after a six month investigation, he cleared Alexander Ashpool of any additional wrong doing, citing that the Minister had been acting on National Security concerns. The General Assembly attempted to move to convene a select committee but this was rejected.

The CCN Treaty

Led by the foreign secretary, Herrick Knottman, the Republic entered into talks with the Bl'Hud, Mor-Du, Rorn and Ekuneri with the aim to form a new alliance, referred to as the CCN Treaty, which was then ratified by the Senate. It was hoped that the new treaty would lead to increased trade and cooperation of the races in the South-East of the quadrant.

The Call for Intervention and the Yakuza Confrontation

The Inkerman administration carried out Operation Ashbury, an intelligence operation against the Black Dragon Yakuza that hit multiple sites across the Republic. They then carried out Operation Grover Red-Line, a Naval attack against Fort Carpenter that destroyed the Yakuza fleet.
A blockade was put in place against the Yakuza.
Meanwhile President Inkerman called for intervention in Karkouri space to liberate Terran slaves and to create a Salborian buffer state. He put this to a vote in the General Assembly and this was defeated after Vishnu Elpis broke with the government, with some strongly worded criticism.

Vote of No Confidence and Constitutional Crisis

Carpenter Navarro (VE) resigned his office as Treasury Secretary and Vishnu Elpis announced they were breaking with the government. The President appointed Garret Sparks (VAL) as the new Treasury Secretary.
Then Herrick Knottman (SDP) announced that SDP would be breaking with the government and calling for a Vote of No Confidence in the President. The President pointed out that the President does not serve at the pleasure of the General Assembly and that a Vote of No Confidence has no force or effect. However, the vote passed both chambers.
President Inkerman resisted calls in the press to resign and opposition parties met to discuss whether to impeach the President or to pass an amendment, giving them the power to remove the President from office.
The Inkerman administration was paralyzed by this and the business of government ground to a halt.
The Fifth Inkerman Cabinet

• Vice President MyAnna Wolf (VAL)
• Attorney General Talbot Gezadiss (VAL)
• Treasury Secretary Garret Sparks (VAL)
• Foreign Secretary Justine Connaught (VAL)
• Defence Secretary Parvinder Daeley (ISO)
• Trade & Transport Secretary Roddick Dutton(FUP)
• Intelligence Secretary Tavon Willis (Ind)
• Interior Secretary Harrington Holmes (VAL)
• Education Secretary Bohemund Bates (ISO)
• Chief of Staff to the President Kandice McKenna (VAL)

President Inkerman announced a mid-term cabinet reshuffle in 2555, with only members of Valiant and the Isolationist Party. Farmer's Union Party member Roddick Dutton was elevated to Interior Secretary. Within the President's Staff, he promoted his son, Everett, to Chief of Staff and Kandice McKenna moved to a consultant role. The Sixth Inkerman Cabinet

• Vice President MyAnna Wolf (VAL)
• Attorney General -Kennedy Tiempe (VAL)
• Foreign Secretary Garret Sparks (VAL)
• Treasury Secretary -Parvinder Daeley (ISO)
• Defence Secretary Ava Boethe (ISO)
• Trade & Transport Secretary -Tavon Willis (IND)
• Intelligence Secretary Kofi McClaron (VAL)
• Interior Secretary Roddick Dutton (FUP)
• Chief of Staff to the President Everett Inkerman (VAL)

In early 2555, the 5th Amendment was brought to a vote in the General Assembly. The motion was defeated in both chambers. Behind the scenes, Senator's Morse Cutbill (ISO), Davis Hanley (SDP), Shen Rutten (VAL) and Tarnat (IND) had talked at length to try and defuse the crisis.

Resignation

With the defeat of the amendment, President Xavier Inkerman gave a shock press conference that he would resign from office in favour of MyAnna Wolf , who would be elevated to the Presidency.
President Inkerman gave several speeches and then called on his coalition allies, by now just the Isolationist Party, to back the new President.
Unconfirmed sources report that as part of the deal to resign his office, President Inkerman was promised there would be no attempt to prosecute him by the next administrations. There are also unconfirmed rumours that he told the new President she would be required to pardon Alexander Ashpool for "future issues".
With this, Xavier Inkerman became the first President to resign his office.

Post Presidency

After resigning from the Presidency, Xavier Inkerman returned to Earth and his estates. He made no major political comments and largely stayed out of the press. He took over day to day management of his families trust fund, valued at over five billion adjusted dollars.
In late 2559 he gave political comments that he "would back MyAnna Wolf to be the next Valiant nominee for President and therefore the next President of the Republic". However, President Wolf did not seek the Valiant nomination. Xavier Inkerman gave a quiet endorsement to Senator Dinah Woscek when she was confirmed for the nomination in 2560 but he gave no further comment and played no part in the 2560 campaign.
In 2568 he gave his support to the proposal for a Unity government, though he did not support cancelling the 2570 elections.   He relocated from Earth to New Silesia in 2570 and returned to Earth in 2579, where he helped to raise money for veterans charities.
Former President Inkerman gave a ringing endorsment of Alexander Ashpool for President in 2580.

5th President of The Republic

2540 -

Current Status

President

Current Location

Earth

Species

Human

Year of Birth

2490 100 Years old

Birthplace

Dhaka, Earth

Aligned Organization

The Terran Republic