Background
Rumpold was born in Villach, Carinthia, and attended schools in Pinkafeld, apprenticing as an electrician.
Rumpold was born in Villach, Carinthia, and attended schools in Pinkafeld, apprenticing as an electrician.
From the 1970s, he became known as Jörg Haider"s Mann fürs Grobe (roughly, hatchet man), and became the only constant fixture in Haider"s retinue during the next quarter century, even though his working-class background came across as suspect to some in Haider"s upper-class-dominated Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (Freedom Party of Austria). After working as an Heating, Ventilation, & Air Conditioning technician from 1980 to 1982, he served in a number of capacities in the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (Freedom Party of Austria) during the 1980s: organizational advisor to the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (Freedom Party of Austria) from 1982 to 1984, managing director of the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (Freedom Party of Austria) in Carinthia from 1984 to 1986, and personal advisor to the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (Freedom Party of Austria) chairman (Haider) in 1986. He subsequently served as business manager of the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (Freedom Party of Austria) from 1990.
Although generally content to operate behind the scenes, he was a member of the Federal Council of Austria for a short time, serving from October 30, 1989 to June 6, 1990.