Marco Herrera

Marco Herrera
Photo of Marco Herrera in 2073
State Minister from Laporinza
In office 2070–2073
Preceded by	Diego Hidalgo
Succeeded by	Diego Hidalgo
9th Director of the Regulation Administration of Monetary Policy
In office 2069–2070
President	Tommy Papillion
Preceded by	Tommy Papillion
Succeeded by	Maksim Mytnik
Personal details
Born	Marco Herrera 2029 2074 (aged 46 years)
Cause of death	Assassination
Nationality	Icarisian
Political party	Libertist
Profession	Lawyer, Businessman, Politician, Activist
Military service
Allegiance	Icaris
Branch/service	Icarisian Air Corps
Years of service	2047-2051

Marco Herrera (2029-2074) was a lawyer, businessman, and politician. He played a key role in the Papillion corruption scandal. He was charged with fraud and was assassinated in prison in 2074 before being convicted.

Early life and childhood

Herrera was born in raised in the capital city of Laporinza. He played semi-professional soccer in high school and was recruited by the Laporinza soccer team's youth program. Herrera instead decided to serve his compulsory military service commitment in the Icarisian Air Corps from 2047-2051. He then attended Paletaph State College for his undergraduate degree in international relations and business management. He then moved to Rioberia International School of Law, one of the most prominent law schools in the world.

Law career

Upon graduation in 2057, Herrera returned to Icaris and founded a private law practice which specialized in business and tax law. For four years he built up an extensive and impressive resume of clients, including the Trovos Corporation (later revealed to be a front for organized crime), the Icarisian Broadcasting Corporation, and P.R. King Refinements, the successor to the massive oil and natural gas company, Nassau Corporation.

Business career

In 2060, Scott Dillon, an international business mogul, socialite, and estranged son of Avi Navon, approached Herrera with a job offer to become the CEO of the hedge fund company, Waltham Investments. Herrera originally turned the offer down but accepted a year later in 2061. Herrera was the CEO of the company for eight years, leaving and selling his assets in 2069 to become the Director of the Regulation Administration of Monetary Policy.

Ministry of Judicial Oversight lawsuits

Herrera made clear policies during his time as CEO to hire gay, lesbian, and bisexual people to his board of advisors and management positions. He wrote various memos on the topic of a specific hiring process to narrow candidate pool which heavily favors these people. The Ministry of Judicial Oversight filed 15 lawsuits over 8 years against the company claiming his policies broke laws against workplace discrimination. All 15 of the lawsuits were either settled out of court or were dropped by the Ministry. Waltham Investments paid over 200 million Grena in settlement money over 8 years.

Political career

Director of the RAMP (2069-2070)

Scott Dillon contributed heavily to the Papillion-McKenzie campaign and was a close friend of Tommy Papillion. It is reported he was the first to introduce the two back when Herrera was running his law firm. In 2069, Dillon convinced Papillion to consider Herrera as a financial advisor for the administration. Papillion decided to name him the Director of the RAMP.

State Minister from Laporinza (2070-2073)

2070 State Ministry election

Main article: 2070 Icarisian State Ministry elections

After only serving five months as Director of the RAMP, Herrera filed election paperwork for the State Ministry seat in Laporinza. He served as the Director of the RAMP while campaigning. On July 1, 2070, he defeated incumbent Diego Hidalgo. On August 31, 2070 he resigned as Director of the RAMP and was sworn in the next day as State Minister from Laporinza. It was only three years later when he announced his candidacy for President.

2073 Presidential election

Main article: 2073 Icarisian Presidential election

On January 15, 2073, Herrera announced his candidacy for president of the Theocratic States of Icaris. At that time, he had three years removed from the Papillion administration, yet amidst the investigations, there was much talk of his potential involvement. Despite the rumors, and a common view that he had only served in the State Ministry to set him up for a presidential run, he proved to be a difficult challenger to frontrunner Lucinda Kielska. His charisma, wit, and in depth knowledge of policy issues served him well. He lost the Libertist primary election by a slim margin of 3.1% to Lucinda Kielska.

Papillion Corruption Scandal

Main article: Papillion Corruption Scandal

On May 8, 2073, just five weeks after that primary election, Herrera was arrested by the Bureau of Investigation and Law Forcement and charged with fraud. On May 10, he resigned his post as State Minister. It was revealed later he had been the chief operator in standing up the monetary system within the RAMP that laundered money to and from the Petrov crime organization. The system he put in place was self-sustaining and his successor Maksim Mytnik knew little of the details, other than inconsistencies in government expenditure reports. It was also uncovered that Herrera himself was not privy to the extent to which the criminal activities went. He was, however, present for conversations regarding the fraud and money laundering with Sasha Petrov himself. Petrov revealed in his interrogation he knew activities beyond the RAMP that were occurring outside his control. Before he had the chance to reveal this to the court, he was killed in prison.

Political views

Labor unions

Herrera supported the labor unions, as they were strong in his state of Laporinza, but he believed in making them smaller and bring more of them to the negotiating table. He believed having more, smaller, unions, would've cut governmental union expenditures. He also believed in repealing some compellance laws that dispraportionately gave labor unions an "automatic, often dangerous upper hand in negotiating with companies."

Business regulation

He was a staunch supporter of a free market and aggressive deregulation of businesses. He felt the government targeted specific businesses, yet left some alone such as tourism, soccer, and media conglomerates. He believed in repealing the anti-monopoly laws. Herrera also supported policies that prevent total outsourcing of businesses. He believed in figure of 80% of the operations and production of whatever comodity the business was involved with stayed domestic. This was a stance very different from his fellow Libertists, and even more extreme than some business traditionalists.

Environmental regulation

Herrera was not in favor of strict environmental regulation due to the constraints they put on businesses. However, he believed in continuing subsidies for nuclear, hydroelectric, solar, and wind industries.

Trade policy

Herrera believed in "free trade light", a mix of both free trade with protectionist systems in place to protect certain markets over others. He believed certain industries in Icaris should be free to export and profit, but with others he felt if exposed to international markets would suffer domestically. When it came to international businesses stationed in Icaris, he believed those particular businesses had to pay steep business taxes to ensure Icarisian Grena weren't being funneled outside the domestic economy.

Immigration

Herrera believed in a quicker and more efficient immigration system and took strides to pass legislation in this topic area when he was a state minister. Many in the state of Laporinza feel very strongly about the immigration issue and want lax policies, especially for immigrants from Waldoccia.

Social safety net and tax policy

In contrast to mainstream Libertists, Herrera supported the social safety net and the opt-in tax policies to fund them. However, he was discontent with the standard of healthcare and wished it to be better. To do this, he felt the opt-in policy provided most freedom for Icarisians, but the individual taxes paid for SSN options would have to rise dramatically to match the desired level of care. One aspect of SSN Herrera did not support were the high unemployment benefits, which he felt incentivised unemployment.

Defense and diplomacy

During the 2073 presidential election, Herrera advocated heavily for increased budgets for both the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of International Relations. He often used the phrase, originally coined by IDK, "Dual security", by having a posture of big stick diplomacy and peace through strength.

Election reform and term limits

Herrera supported suggested policies to hold restricted primaries and felt the "Traditionalist Party had controlled elections for 50 years because of the open primaries." He did not support term limits for the State Ministry nor the Council of Delegates. He even supported a constitutional amendment to repeal term limits for the president, a view not shared by many from either political party in Icaris.

Government spending

Herrera believed in moderate-to-large government spending to "meet the needs of national security and business support."

Governmental marriage, abortion, and LGB marital rights

Herrera was a staunch supporter of government licensing of marriage to specifically solidfy marital rights for members of the LGBT community. He was a vocal leader on this issue and first spoke on it during his time in the Icarisian Air Corps. He believed the Air Corps had an environment unaccepting and intolerant of members of the LGB community. Through his private law practice, which was largely business law, he also advertised representation in LGB discrimination cases. While his tenure as CEO of Waltham Investments, he had initiated a policy of specifically hiring members of the LGB community to his board of advisors and management positions. He faced lawsuits from the Ministry of Judicial Oversight for this policy. Herrera also believed in including abortion clinic funding as part of standard healthcare coverage, citing proper coverage of "reproductive rights and health".

Governmental spending

He was in support of moderate-to-large governmental spending to expand the social safety net and increase the budgets of all government ministries, especially Defense and International Relations.

Personal life

Herra married Alexandra Media in 2054 and had five children with her. Twin boys Lucas and David born in 2055, and three daughters Isabella, Sofía, and Laura born in 2057, 2059, and 2061 respectively. Herrera was an advid soccer fan, and especially supported his hometown team LAPORINZA SOCCER TEAM. Herrera was close friends with many business magnets and socialites such as Scott Dillon, Tommy Papillion, Xavier Nassau, and Eli Dupont.

Legacy

Herrera at one time was seen as the future of the Libertist Party. Having a law and business background, having served in a presidential administration and as a state representative, he had the makings for a young and smart leader in the party. Many in the Libertist Party still see him as a success story and a key figure in revitalizing the party's base, yet many others also see him as a corrupt, political opportunist, seeking to serve business interests from the seat of government. Herrera was seen as a crucial figure in obtaining LGB rights and continues to be supported by LGB citizens of Icaris.