1995: STARFLEET’s Darkest Hour

The next election was to be even more contentious then the last. Admiral McGinnis was again running for the position of Commander, STARFLEET. With a new slate of backers, Fleet Admiral Lerman ran for reelection, and Rear Admiral Janis Moore entered the fray. This time Admiral McGinnis would win the plurality of votes, thus being elected the 9th Commander, STARFLEET. However the outgoing Executive Committee refused to seat him due to the continuing financial scandal, taking the unprecedented step of revoking his membership. The Executive Committee did, however, swear in the Vice-Commander, STARFLEET-Elect, Admiral Deborah Nelson.

Nelson's first act as interim Commander, STARFLEET was to restore Admiral McGinnis to STARFLEET. Then Nelson named him her Vice-Commander, then resigned as Commander, STARFLEET. Consequently, in the end (and in less then a day after his dismissal from STARFLEET), Dan McGinnis became Fleet Admiral and the Commander, STARFLEET. Fleet Admiral McGinnis then appointed Admiral Nelson Vice-Commander, STARFLEET.

With such a rocky start, it should come as no surprise that strife and disagreement were hallmarks the Administration of Fleet Admiral Dan McGinnis. The 'Questar Debacle', which actually broke a few months into his administration, haunted Fleet Admiral McGinnis throughout his tenure. This arose from Admiral McGinnis' alleged failure to pay Star Trek: The Next GenerationStar Wil “Wesley Crusher” Wheaton for appearing at conventions hosted by Questar, a company owned by Fleet Admiral McGinnis. The public ill will from a Star Trekcast member toward McGinnis was also directed at STARFLEET, and many members were not happy about this situation.

Although some STARFLEET members tried to work with the new administration, others were less cooperative and more vocal. There were several members who, throughout the first few months of 1995, called for Fleet Admiral McGinnis to resign. The most vocal of these members were former McGinnis Vice-Chief of Staff, Fleet Captain 'Ranger' Michael D. Smith, Region 15 Coordinator; Rear Admiral Alan Ravitch; and former candidate for the CS position, Rear Admiral Janis Moore, who at the time was serving as Region 4 Coordinator. The most vocal and scathing of these voices belonged to Fleet Captain 'Wild Bill' Herrmann, CO of the USS Rutledge.

These attacks on Fleet Admiral McGinnis came to a head during the 1995 STARFLEET International Conference in Atlanta when charges of 'Conduct Unbecoming an Officer' and 'Violation of the Officer Code of Conduct' were brought against Ravitch and Moore. Admiral Moore was accused of releasing materials (given to her by what appeared to be the Wheaton people) that Fleet Admiral McGinnis felt were a personal problem best handle privately by the courts. Admiral Ravitch was very vocal over the unofficial STARFLEET Listserve. The consequences of these actions would lead to their dismissal as Regional Coordinators.

A year later, during the1996 International Conference (IC06) in Oklahoma City, Fleet Captain Herrmann was brought up on the same charges for his outspokenness over the STARFLEET Listserve, which lead to his being reduced in rank to Captain, and dismissed as CO of the Rutledge. The Officers and Crew of the Rutledge refused to recognize the dismissal, standing by Captain Herrmann as their CO.

During this time of conflict within STARFLEET, many Regions and Chapters chose to concentrate on their local and regional functions. But some chapters and members decided to withdraw from STARFLEET, several of whom would form another Star Trek Fan Organization: the United Federation of Planets Internationale (UFPI). Many saw this organization as an alternative to STARFLEET, others saw it as trying to split, break up, or even destroy STARFLEET. The number of chapters withdrawing to the UFPI hit Region 4 especially hard.

The IRS issue was still on the burner. Fleet Admiral McGinnis revealed that STARFLEET still owed back taxes, but that he was filing the appropriate forms to make sure that STARFLEET would owe no more. However, no evidence has been found to substantiate that Fleet Admiral McGinnis had done this.

But problems with the McGinnis Administration started to come to a climax shortly before the 1996 International Conference in Oklahoma City when the Vice-Commander, STARFLEET, Admiral Deborah Nelson-Maestu, resigned. Rear Admiral Paula 'Coyote' Schaff was appointed Vice-Commander, STARFLEET, while still retaining her position as Region 12 Coordinator. But within a month, Admiral Schaff resigned abruptly, citing a lack of communication and cooperation with Fleet Admiral McGinnis and STARFLEET HQ.

With Schaff’s resignation, Fleet Admiral McGinnis announced at the end of October, 1996 that he would resign the position of Commander, STARFLEET, as well as his own STARFLEET membership, effective on November 14. As McGinnis had yet to appoint a new Vice-Commander, STARFLEET, Commodore James Herring, STARFLEET Chief of Operations and next in the line of succession, became the 3rd Interim Commander, STARFLEET. Commodore Herring refused to take a promotion to the rank of Fleet Admiral, citing the length of time he would be in office, but was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral.

It was only after Admiral Herring had to personally 'retrieve' records, files, and other materials from Fleet Admiral McGinnis that the truth came out. STARFLEET was in serious trouble both financially and physically. The only trace of funds belonging to STARFLEET that were found were those belonging to the Scholarship funds. Funds belonging to STARFLEET and other charitable programs administered by STARFLEET were not found at that time.

In response to this unprecedented appearance of duplicity and circumvention by the former Commander, STARFLEET, Admiral Herring, acting with the powers of the Fleet Admiral's office and with the approval of the STARFLEET Executive Committee, stripped Fleet Admiral McGinnis of his lifetime membership, which is granted to any former Commander, STARFLEET, as well as taking the unparalleled step of demoting Fleet Admiral McGinnis to the rank of Captain. This demotion was mostly superfluous, as McGinnis was no longer a STARFLEET member, but it was a symbolic action providing a sense of closure to many aggrieved STARFLEET members.

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