Tommy Papillion

Tommy Papillion
Photo of Tommy Papillion in 2073
10th President of Icaris
In office 2069–2073
Prime Minister	Dietrich Weber Robert Schlesinger
Vice President	Will McKenzie
Preceded by	Santiago Franco
Succeeded by	Dietrich Weber
7th Director of the Regulation Administration of Monetary Policy
In office 2065–2069
President	Santiago Franco
Preceded by	Xavier Nassau
Succeeded by	Marco Herrera
Personal details
Born	Tommy Papillion (2019-01-01)January 1, 2019 Migaza City, Migaza
Died	2074 (aged 55 years) Paletaph, Icaris
Cause of death	Assassination
Nationality	Icarisian
Political party	Libertist (2041-2069) Independent (2069-death)
Spouse(s)	Female Dupont (undated)
Profession	Politician
Military service
Allegiance	Icaris
Branch/service	Icarisian Army
Years of service	2037-2038

Tommy Papillion (2019-2074) was the tenth President of the Theocratic States of Icaris and the seventh Director of the Regulation Administration of Monetary Policy. Before entering politics, Papillion was the CEO of the production company, Black Butterfly and the tech and media conglomerate, BlackSource Genesis. Papillion sold his ownership of both companies in 2064.

Papillion was the second president in the history of Icaris to win an election as an independent (the first being Levi Shamir). He won the 2069 election with 74.5% of the vote, the largest margin of victory since President Levi Shamir's 2021 victory, which was 89%. Prior to becoming a politician, Papillion was a multi-millionaire businessman and socialite. He was known for his large donations to the Libertist and campaigned for their candidates.

Business career

Tommy Papillion founded the Black Butterfly Company in 2045. The company became a major partner for programming production for the Icarisian Broadcasting Corporation in 2047.

Papillion testified before the National Parliament of Icaris dozens of times, often testifying against open source technology and open source internet services. His argument to the government was open source internet services was unsafe and could put Icarisian citizens at risk. Dissenters of his testimony claimed he simply represented corporate self-internet and profit and his company (largely growing in international markets) was far more unsafe.

As open source internet services grew in popularity and became dominant over the telecommunications market, BlackSource Genesis became a tech consultancy and tech activism company while producing media content thru Black Butterfly. Papillion himself became the company's chief representative, often meeting with government officials of multiple countries, advocating for-profit technology services and technological innovation.

Throughout his career, Papillion faced accusations of selling his company's consumer data to foreign governments. Papillion disputed these claims during his life.

Political career

Early activism, donations and campaigning

Tommy Papillion was a very charismatic businessman and socialite and with that came followers. He used his influence to campaign for Libertist candidates and made large donations to the Party. Most election cylces there was speculation he'd run for office, and in 2052, when Patrick Gilligan stepped down as Chairman of the Libertist Party to run for State Delegate, Papillion was reportedly one of the front runners. This, of course, did not happen as Walter Boudreau was chosen instead.

President of Icaris (2069-2073)

2069 Presidential election

Main article: 2069 Icarisian Presidential election

Ran against Patrick Schwimmer for the Libertist Party nomination. Dropped out of that party's primary to run on an independent ticket with Traditionalist Will McKenzie.

Presidential term

On the campaign trail as a Libertist, he joined the popular Traditionalist candidate Will McKenzie, to form an Independent ticket for the presidency. Their populist optimism won them an overwhelming majority in the polls, not seen since Levi Shamir's election in 2021. However, this public approval bliss was very short-lived when their presidency was caught up in several major scandals, eventually ending in the convictions, deaths, and investigations of many politicians.

Corruption scandal

Main article: Papillion Corruption Scandal

President Papillion was involved in an organized crime corruption scandal that was laundering money, padding executive budgets with illegal funds, giving political favors to corporate interests, and obstructing justice to suppress investigations. The scandal ended in the indictments of Papillion, former RAMP Director Marco Herrera, Minister of International Relations Sasha Petrov, Minister of Defense Mikhail Travnikov, and Minister of Judicial Oversight Dominic Yarema. Petrov was the only one successfully convicted and is serving prison time. Papillion, Herrera and Minister of Health and Medical Services, Kyle Greensworth, were all assassinated, Yarema and Vice President Will McKenzie committed suicide, and Mikhail Travnikov went missing and a warrant is currently out for his arrest. The ramifications of the incident have led to major overhaul of government oversight and newly launched investigations into government corruption, specifically in regards to campaign finance and government budget/expenditure setting.

Political Views

Policy	Large/Small	Yes/No	High/Low	Easy/Rigid
Government Size	Large
Renewable Energy Dependence		No
Privatized Healthcare System		Yes
Social Market Economy		Yes
Business Regulation			Low
Compellance Laws		No
Labor Unions		Yes
Opt-In Tax System		Yes
Business Subsidies		Yes
Government Spending			High
Conscription		No
Domestic Surveillance on Citizenry		No
Citizenship				Easy
Theocracy		No
Death Penalty		Yes
Government-Sponsored Marriage		Yes
Abortion		Yes
Firearm Regulation			High
Universal Public School		Yes
Isolationist Foreign Policy		No
Globalism		Yes
Free Trade		Yes
Defense Budget			High

Trad: 6/23
Lib: 15/20