Robert Kinsey

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Robert Kinsey

Summary

Robert "Bob" Kinsey was a political nemesis of the Stargate Program. Senator Kinsey initially was the powerful chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He later moved on to become chairman of Intelligence Oversight. He became the vice president under Henry Hayes before the President discovered his illegal dealings with the rogue NID and the conglomerate of businessmen controlling them. Forced to resign, Kinsey maintained a low profile until seeking Stargate Command's protection from potential NID assassins. The group, now called the Trust, had been taken over by the Goa'uld, and Kinsey became a victim to a Goa'uld symbiote. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Character Biography

Robert "Bob" Kinsey was a career politician. He was married, with three children and seven grandchildren as of Season Four, and had a dog named Oscar (4.15 "Chain Reaction").. His political party affiliation and home state are unknown, although he had the governor of Maryland at his house for a party when he prematurely announced his candidacy for President. He claimed unspecified injures precluding him from ever serving in the military himself but paid lip service to the sacrifice to the men and women in uniform. He also was known to spout Christian rhetoric, but whether this was a true faith on his part or just more bombast is open to interpretation. His main motivation appeared to be survival and power.

When Stargate Command first met Senator Kinsey, he was Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful positions in the Senate. He balked at the over $7 billion secret budgetary item known only as "Area 52" (1.21 "Politics"). The President at the time, hoping to gain his support, ordered Kinsey to be briefed on the Stargate program by Lt. Col. Samuels. Kinsey became even more outraged at this perceived abomination.

As a last ditch effort to save the program, the President invited Kinsey to visit Stargate Command and speak to the flagship team, SG-1 about the project. Kinsey claimed to come with an open mind, but already had preconceived notions about this "drain" of taxpayer resources, dismissing the threat of the Goa'uld as a military bogeyman to get more funding. Dr. Jackson's assertions that he knew the Goa'uld were launching a space attack because of his visit to an alternate reality did not help their case. Spouting fundamentalist Christian dogma and overconfidence at the US military in the unlikely scenario the attack would happen, Kinsey ordered the program be shut down immediately. General Hammond flew to Washington to try and the program reinstated, and was even thrown out of Senator Kinsey's office, but Kinsey was too powerful politically for the President to overrule him (1.21 "Within the Serpent's Lair, Part 1").

Kinsey's victory was a brief one, however, because Daniel's prediction came to pass. Two Goa'uld ships came to Earth, but thanks to the rogue efforts of SG-1 and some rebel Jaffa, the ha'taks exploded in orbit (2.01 "The Serpent's Grasp Part 2"). The SGC was reopened. Far from being reprimanded for going on the unauthorized mission, Capt. Carter and Col. O'Neill received the Air Medal for their heroic efforts (2.09 "Secrets").

At some point in this career, though it is unclear if it happened before his knowledge of the Stargate Program, Kinsey became involved with a rogue element of businessmen who used one of the secret agencies of the U.S. Government, the NID, for increased power and profit (4.15 "Chain Reaction"). They helped finance Kinsey's reelection campaigns, and at this stage were helping him start his own campaign for President. By this point, Kinsey was no longer seeking to shut the program down.

This rogue group saw the potential for using the SGC for their own ends. With Kinsey's knowledge, they blackmailed General Hammond into retiring by kidnapping his granddaughters for an afternoon. The group replaced him with someone who would be wiling to follow orders that would better benefit them. An off-duty Jack O'Neill joined forces with former NID agent Harry Maybourne, and they tracked the NID rogue activity, including the kidnapping and the leak of information to the Russians, on Kinsey's computer. Jack was able to crack the password by guessing out of all Kinsey's loved ones, he'd choose to use the name of his dog "Oscar." O'Neill and Hammond were able to use the disk as blackmail against Kinsey and keep him and the NID from interfering in Stargate Command.

However, Kinsey still held a powerful position as chairman. When SG-1 made contact with an advanced race willing to share their technology called the Aschen, Kinsey was very much in favor of the treaty (5.10 "2001"). The team discovered the Aschen were from the same planet a blood spotted note written by a future O'Neill warning the SGC never to contact (unbeknownst to SG-1, in this alternate future timeline, Kinsey had become president) (4.16 "2010"). Kinsey thwarted every attempt by SG-1 to stop negotiations from going forward, even waylaying O'Neill's limousine to the White House (5.10 "2001"). Kinsey came to the SGC to witness the signed treaty done by the assigned negotiator, Joe Faxon. However, Faxon had been convinced by Sam Carter's arguments and they entrapped the Aschen to revealing their own evil intents. Once again Earth was saved, no thanks to Kinsey's meddling.

Stargate Command was not the only agency suspicious of Senator Kinsey. Malcolm Barrett of the NID was assigned by the White House to uncover and prosecute the rogue branch of his agency and the cabal of businessmen known as "the Committee" that controlled them (6.14 "Smoke and Mirrors"). His trail led him to Kinsey, who agreed to testify in exchange for immunity. The Committee, perhaps aware of Kinsey's betrayal, tried to assassinate the senator. They used one of the Foothold Aliens' mimic devices to frame Jack O'Neill for the crime. Kinsey was reported dead, but in truth, he was just seriously wounded and was being held in protective custody by Agent Barrett in a Washington hospital. Eventually Agent Barrett and Major Carter overcame their natural distrust of each other to share information and piece together the truth—just in time to prevent the assassin from succeeding in his second attempt by using the mimic device of Major Paul Davis. A recovered Kinsey used the attempts on his life for political capital, and O'Neill was forced to assist to exonerate his falsely tarnished name.

These events did not make Kinsey more benevolent to the SGC's interests. He ended up switching committees, to the Intelligence Oversight Committee (6.17 "Disclosure"). When the President decided to disclose the Stargate Program to a few more of the powerful nations on Earth, Kinsey made a point to attend the Pentagon meeting with the foreign ambassadors. When the ambassadors balked at this alien program representing Earth across the galaxy solely in the US military's hands, Kinsey swept in with his alternative. He proposed the NID be in charge of the Stargate program (always the goal of the rogue group). Since he was switching to Intelligence Oversight,, the NID fell under Kinsey's control. It was only through the intercession of Thor beaming into the conference and declaring complete confidence in Gen. Hammond's command that the Stargate remained in the SGC's hands. Kinsey realized he was beaten at this diplomatic game, noting Hammond's surprised counter-strategy was "well played".

Kinsey's political star continued to rise. Kinsey became the vice-presidential candidate under Henry Hayes's ticket. While a candidate, Kinsey learned of the lame-duck President's efforts to hire a reporter, Emmett Bregman to do a documentary on the SGC for posterity (7.17 "Heroes Part 1"). Kinsey went to the base to put his spin on the "fine work" done by the men and women of this command. Knowing the cameras were on him when he saw Colonel O'Neill in the commissary, he tried to maintain his smiling public persona. O'Neill reamed him out, but unfortunately the klaxons began to blare; most of the tirade was missed.

With his Committee filled campaign coffers and ability to deliver key states, including Florida, the Hayes/Kinsey ticket won the election (7.20 "Inauguration"). As soon as the president was sworn in and briefed on the existence of the Stargate project by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Francis Maynard, Hayes rushed to Kinsey's office, angry that Kinsey did not reveal such a secret to him. Kinsey explained he was under a gag order by the previous administration dating back years. Kinsey immediately launched on his campaign to have the SGC put under new leadership—including names that he submitted.

To that end, he had already directed an NID agent, Woolsey, to do an independent audit of the SGC, especially in the mission to P3X-666 that resulted in Major Janet Fraiser's death. Hayes, however, did not appear completely convinced of Woolsey's arguments. That evening, when Woolsey apologized to Kinsey, Robert revealed the audit was a mere show. Hayes would come around to Kinsey's way of thinking, and if he didn't "things happen." A nervous Woolsey started to investigate Woolsey, his only lead being General Hammond. Hammond released a copy of the disk on Kinsey that Maybourne and O'Neill had retrieved a few years previous. Woolsey gave the information to President Hayes.

Hayes did not immediately act on the information given. Instead, he took Kinsey's advice to change the leadership of Stargate Command, calling Hammond to Washington and offering the job to a civilian with large amounts of diplomatic experience—Doctor Elizabeth Weir (7.21 "Lost City Part 1"). Kinsey immediately positioned himself close to Weir, offering his advice and experience for her new post. Weir, however, was more open minded in her new role as SG-1's leader. Kinsey became irritated at her willingness to listen to SG-1, and stormed back to Washington.

When Anubis's ships appeared in Earth orbit, Kinsey panicked. He took advantage of the President's order to send people through the Stargate to the safety of the Alpha Site (7.22 "Lost City Part 2"). Neither General Hammond nor any of Hayes's other advisors followed suit. Kinsey was unable to 'gate to safety when Anubis dialed the Stargate, blocking escape. A panicked Kinsey ordered the Stargate code overridden and tried to take over the SGC on his own authority while Weir reported to President Hayes. Kinsey's antics were the final straw for Hayes, who ordered the vice president's immediate resignation, noting the information he had was enough to have Kinsey shot.

Several months later, the disgraced Kinsey heard from his old "Committee" cronies, now calling themselves "The Trust". Fearing they wanted to assassinate him, Kinsey broke into now General Jack O'Neill's house and asked for protection from the SGC (8.14 "Full Alert"). The Trust had set up a meeting with Kinsey to pick his brain on a Russian counterpart, General Vaselov. SG-1 sent him to the meeting wired to try and entrap the rogue members. The Trust used technology to beam away with Kinsey before SG-1 could raid the house. Unbeknownst to any of them, the Trust had been taken over by the Goa'uld. They implanted Kinsey with a symbiote and sent him to Russia. Daniel Jackson, sent to Russia to learn what the Trust wanted there found a Goa'ulded Kinsey had been caught trying to assassinate the Russian president. With Kinsey in custody, the Russians believed the U.S. Government was compromised, and SG-1 and General O'Neill worked to find the real conspirators–within the Russian government and on a cloaked al'kesh formerly used by Osiris. Daniel Jackson was able to grab Kinsey and beam him up to Prometheus. During a firefight with the al'kesh, Kinsey escaped and beamed over to Trust space ship. He killed a co-conspirator, and knowing Prometheus was about to destroy the al'kesh, grabbed the personal transporter before the killing shot was made. If the Goa'ulded Kinsey beamed off the ship in time, his current whereabouts are unknown.

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--Aurora 20:48, 18 November 2007 (PST)