Jay,
You are right in theory and, in an ideal world, practically. You are, more than likely, right in this case - I don't know enough about it to comment. But I would say that this is not always the case when it comes to the crunch. There are times when the captain isn't always given the last say - or, prhaps, doesn't feel like he/she has the last say. Examples might be a young fg off pilot with his flight commander in the back seat. The heady days of the mighty Nimrod where the captaincy sat otherwhere than the front left seat. Make up more of your own scenarios.
I don't think I can fault your logic in this case (from what I've read here), but what I'm saying is that it isn't always that simple. And I'm not even daring to takle "cross-cockpit gradient".
M2 signing off.