[wisty]

It sounds like he's reasonable (skill wise ... totally unprofessional though). He also probably has a shit team, and shit management. Shit conditions make people behave less professionally (though he sounds worse than most).

Does he have any chance of being promoted, for not being a complete moron? Or do you promote morons into lead roles, so they can hire even bigger morons, and make moronic decisions?

If he's not going to get promoted, then he's got no reason to not just dick around, and behave like an asshole. Yes, he's probably hurting his chances of promotion (and might risk getting fired), but he probably had no hope anyway (since there's no way you could afford to lose him by kicking him upstairs). And what are you going to do? Fire the only guy who can actually solve problems?