Why grant Sheridan his request to have his ex at the helm of B5?

[DeMonk]

After all. They still see him as a threat.

President Luchenko wasn't just having a conversation when she threatened to have him court-martialed and shot if he doesn't accept to resign and they would have reneged on their promise to grant immunity to the crew that remained loyal to Sheridan if he hadn't taken the precautions of having copies sent to the press and put the original in a safe place.

They booted him outà but he came back even stronger. Must have been quite frustrating for his opponents, to say the least.

So, why grant him this request?

• Because, now that he is president of the Interstellar Alliance, it's politically convenient: if I grant you this, you owe me?
• Because she wasn't on his side in the war and they think they own her?
• Because this looks like nepotism and they hoped to use that in some way in the future?
• Because they hoped that having his ex in the mix, it would be more than a little distraction, maybe even undermine his relationship with Delenn and his position? After all, for Sheridan, Delenn has no competition, but who really believes that bringing in your ex so soon after your marriage is a smart idea?

What else could there be?

By the way, would they have needed his agreement on the matter?

If I had been Luchenko I would have been very suspicious and definitely would have sent him packing!

Which probably proves I have no business in politics.

[phazedout]

After all. They still see him as a threat.

<snip>

• Because, now that he is president of the Interstellar Alliance, it's politically convenient: if I grant you this, you owe me?
• Because she wasn't on his side in the war and they think they own her?
• Because this looks like nepotism and they hoped to use that in some way in the future?
• Because they hoped that having his ex in the mix, it would be more than a little distraction, maybe even undermine his relationship with Delenn and his position? After all, for Sheridan, Delenn has no competition, but who really believes that bringing in your ex so soon after your marriage is a smart idea?

Wandering (perhaps) semi off-topic here, but I've been a civil servant for 15 years, and spend 2+ years working in the ministers office, and also have a friend in local politics. Having (I think) established my bona fides, all I can say is - all of the above. Politicians will (in my experience, see above) try and take any opportunity to score points, and also use past sins or experiences to leverage future opportunities. All except, of course for the rare selfless saints we all know exist in politics , and never actually get elected
Phaze on the "not ranting, honest " ID

[Satai Delenn]

I think they granted his request because she was still in Earthforce and may have had an excellant record of odeying orders but of course so did Sheridan.I think the fact that she wasn't on Sheridan's side during the civil war over Clark may have had a lot to do with it.Cause I am sure there were some people who followed Clark willingly( like she did)and some of the generals may still have been in power.Well I guess I am politically dense too .Given my rambling post.

[Andrew_Swallow]

Earthforce did not know that she was his ex. If Earthforce had know it would have been in both of their files. Garibaldi only found out when told.

President Clark would have probably imprisoned Sheridan's ex-wife, in a similar fashion to John's father.

[Radhil]

Earthforce did not know that she was his ex. If Earthforce had know it would have been in both of their files. Garibaldi only found out when told.

President Clark would have probably imprisoned Sheridan's ex-wife, in a similar fashion to John's father.

I would think that would have to be in some kind of file. Basic recordkeeping would turn up that fact. Clark wouldn't have imprisoned her if she was on his side - he could trumpet that fact. But that begs the question of why no mention before....

Circular logic usually means a plot hole. We could safely write it off to that, I think.

[DeMonk]

... a plot hole. We could safely write it off to that, I think.

That I find a rather unsatisfying answer.
Think I should post it in the moderated group?

[Jan]

Have you checked the archives yet and/or the Lurker's guide? As I recall, it was discussed a fair amount at the time.

Jan

[DeMonk]

Checking

Have you checked the archives yet and/or the Lurker's guide? As I recall, it was discussed a fair amount at the time.

I have checked the archives. Not the Lurker's guide yet. Will do.
Thank you.

[Jan]

Lockley said that they met at the academy, didn't she? So if they were both Earthforce, it almost had to have gone into their files. Depending on how they disolved the marriage, though, that information might have been purged at some point. Or only available to certain clearances?

Jan
who really hates being away from her source material when questions like this come up.

[DeMonk]

Lockley said that they met at the academy, didn't she? So if they were both Earthforce, it almost had to have gone into their files. Depending on how they disolved the marriage, though, that information might have been purged at some point. Or only available to certain clearances?

I see your point, but whether someone has clearance or not, outside the government it doesn't matter.
Earthgov/the nightwatch is spying on everyone; they must have extensive files on someone as important and controversial as Sheridan. How can they NOT KNOW?
So my question remains WHY would they actually agree to it?

[Laiden]

Heres the simplist answer. I first want to point out that Babylon 5 as an independant state, is apart of the Interstellar Alliance.

Much like the Minbari, the ISA is a powerful force that Earth Recognizes. If you note, the Minbari got to choose who was Commander of B5 in the very beginning, actually the Minbari had the last call over many decisions because Earth didnt want to piss them off.

With that in mind, they let the ISA pick who Commands B5 because they know Sheridan has the League Worlds Allied and that is indeed a powerful force.

Since Earth let the ISA pick who commands B5, Sheridan Chose Lockley. His reasons were that it's an Earth Station so it's only fitting that an Earthforce officer command it, She was on the opposition durring the Insurrection, and she's not afraid to speak her mind.

[Jan]

I see your point, but whether someone has clearance or not, outside the government it doesn't matter.
Earthgov/the nightwatch is spying on everyone; they must have extensive files on someone as important and controversial as Sheridan. How can they NOT KNOW?
So my question remains WHY would they actually agree to it?

Well, by the time Lochley was under discussion, Nightwatch was pretty much a dead issue. As for why Earthgov agreed to it, I'd say for all of the political reasons named before *and* because Delenn probably added her request. The Minbari had a large say in who was chosen as the first commander and so may well have pressed that right for the third one since the second was chosen over their protests.

Jan

[JPH3]

Technically, Lochley's not Sheridan's 'ex'. If I remember correctly, they didn't get a divorce...the marriage was anulled. It was as if it never existed, which is probably one reason Sheridan didn't think to bring it up with Delenn until circumstances forced him to. It's not something he'd otherwise need to keep secret.

As for using Lochley against Sheridan during the war, the Clark regime probably knew all about their previous relationship but that doesn't mean they could do anything with it. The annullment itself has little propaganda value...it's a 'who cares' unless Clark's people had a way of finding out that Delenn didn't know about it. And, since she was probably a ship captain during the war rather than being back on Earth, Lochley would have been tough to take hostage. Just because she wasn't on Sheridan's 'side' doesn't mean she was on Clark's - a fair number of Earthforce ships ignored their recall orders and sat the war out without joining either side.

V/R
john

[Jan]

Technically, Lochley's not Sheridan's 'ex'. If I remember correctly, they didn't get a divorce...the marriage was anulled. It was as if it never existed, which is probably one reason Sheridan didn't think to bring it up with Delenn until circumstances forced him to. It's not something he'd otherwise need to keep secret.

If so, that was disclosed someplace other than onscreen. In the script Lochley says:

"A very long time ago, Sheridan and I were married for all of about three months."

and:

"No, just three. We met fresh out of officer training school. We hit it off, fell crazy in love, got married, realized that we'd made a terrible mistake, fell crazy out of love and split up."

No detail of whether it was annulled or they got a divorce. Of course, we also have no knowledge of divorce/annullment conventions for that time either.

Jan
happily back with her scripts <g>

[Dr Maturin]

If the marriage is less than a year old, it would be an annullment. I'm assuming JMS was using the contemporary standard.