Well the episode showed in 1993. DS: 9 was RDM’s baby. Ronald D Moore of BSG and Caprica. I just read an article that Andrew lived in Vancouver from 1989-1992; one year before the episode in ST DS: 9.
I always thought of it as Ira Steven Behr’s baby. RDM brought an interesting perspective. He said that there were diverse views behind the scenes—it wasn’t an atheistic, socialistic monolith that the Roddenberry worldview suggested. That could be seen in his episode where Jake and Nog learned about capitalism while trying to get a gift for Jake’s dad.
Never saw Caprica. Very much disliked BSG.
As for Andrew, I only knew him from Growing Pains. It was one of the few shows I watched growing up and he was a favorite. I don’t consider him selfish or a coward. It’s very hard to understand how dark a place he was in, but easy to imagine how it would seem there were few options open to him.