How common are corporate psychopaths in politics?

Charming but frequently lie (very flexible with the truth)

One would have to be suspicious of anyone who when a copy of a driving licence appears in brothel claims that his driving licence was stolen for a day. However what is noteworthy in his speech to Parliament is how he distorted the truth. For example he falsely claimed the HSU paid damages in a defamation case. He implied the FWA refused to personally interview him when he refused to meet with the FWA because he said he should not because he was the subject of police investigation. In the same speech he claimed he was getting regular letters of support from Else Skinner, aged 72. She has since admitted she knew Thompson when he was young but had not sent him a letter or communicated with him for more than 25 years.

Guiltlessly blame co-workers and subordinates, never remorseful

Protected by Parliamentary privilege, Thompson blamed a number of individuals for his situation ranging from Marco Balano to Tony Abbott and at the same time made no apology for any of his behaviour.

Good at manipulating people emotionally

When you see men crying in public you always need to be suspicious. Corporate psychopaths are great actors. The television network supposedly causing the tears, Channel 7, has categorically denied the event. What does amaze me is the amount of money (over $100,000) Thompson drew out in cash on the HSU credit card. Using a credit card for legitimate expenses is fine but I have been involved with over 30 businesses and I have never heard of executives drawing cash on a corporate credit card except in a very rare emergency. To say it was drawings is a complete furphy. Public organisations pay salaries. To get away with this one can only guess that Thompson used intimidating behaviour with HSU staff.

Parasitic Lifestyle

Finally many of us wondered by Craig Thomson given that his membership had been revoked by the Labor party still stood for re-election. The reason is simple: money. Changes to parliamentary entitlements in 2011 meant that, even though parliamentarians lost their taxpayer-funded superannuation, their redundancy payments jumped. Under the new scheme, a parliamentarian who "retires involuntarily" (in the delicate jargon of the Remuneration Tribunal) is eligible for a 'resettlement allowance' of three months of their base salary. If they were a member for more than one full term, that allowance is doubled to six months of their base salary. Involuntary retirement is defined as losing an election, or losing party endorsement for reasons other than misconduct and choosing not to re-contest the election. Since Mr Thomson's membership of the Labor party was revoked because of his misconduct, he would not qualify under the second limb of the test. He needed to stand for election again, despite facing certain defeat. Having been defeated, he gets six months of his base salary, which comes to around $95 000. (Thanks to William Shrubb of Wastewatch for this information,)

Peter Slipper

In an article in The Australian (16 October 2013) by Janet Albrechtsen about Peter Slipper would suggest that he also may be a corporate psychopath. "Slippery Pete" as he known is famous for rorting Parliamentary entitlements. For example in the six month period 1 July – 31 December 2009 a an ordinary MP, Slipper racked up $495,333 in expenses which was higher than Wayne Swan (then Federal Treasurer) or Malcom Turnbull (Opposition Leader) for the same period. He was only outdone by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.

He has demonstrated flexibility in his political career. He started as a National MP in 1987, became a Liberal in 1993, an independent in 2011 when offered the Speaker's position and in 2013, Slipper joined the Palmer United Party. However, his membership ceased within seven hours of him joining the party.

Despite the exposure of his sending lewd texts about female genitalia leading to the censorship motion about his continuing as Speaker, Slipper continues to argue that it was a conspiracy that destroyed his reputation and political career. This is a person who has been charged with three counts of "general dishonesty" under the Criminal Code Act by the Australian Federal Police.