Larry Flynt Offers $1M Reward for Mitt Romney Tax Returns

ROLLING STONE
Checking in With LARRY FLYNT
On trial and under attack, the HUSTLER publisher is taking on his most ambitious project yet: making porn stars of the GOP
February 18, 1999
By NEIL STRAUSS
Photographs by MARY ELLEN MARK
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Flynt thrives on conflict, especially when he thinks he's right, and now leaning forward in his chair ‑ he delivers his knockout blow. "I may not decide who the next speaker of the House is going to be," he begins, raising his voice, "but I sure as hell decided who it was not going to be."

Few argue this point. "But for Larry Flynt, Bob Livingston would be speaker ‑ that is a fact," echoes Democratic strategist James Carville in a separate interview. And all it took was money. In October, Flynt spent $85,000 for a full‑page ad in the Washington Post, offering up to $1 million to anyone able to provide evidence of "illicit sexual relations with a congressman, senator or other prominent officeholder." He received 2,000 responses. Within a week, the two private investigators he had hired narrowed the pool down to forty‑eight and then, a month later, to twelve lucky finalists, whose stories were well‑documented enough to pursue. But even before Flynt played his hand, one of his most formidable targets folded. On December 18th, Livingston, the Louisiana Republican who was about to become speaker of the House and second in line to the presidency, announced that he would resign his seat. Making a vague admission of "marital infidelity," Livingston complained about having been "Larry Flynted," but a full‑on Flynting promises to be a far more excruciating experience ‑ one supported by embarrassingly specific evidence for which Flynt is paying nicely. The week after the Falwell taping, Flynt held a press conference to charge that in 1983, Georgia Rep. Bob Barr ‑ a Republican who is an avid abortion opponent and a member of the pro‑life caucus ‑ drove his then‑wife to and from an abortion clinic and paid the doctor's bill. To support the claim, Flynt produced a signed affidavit from Barr's ex‑wife, Gail Vogel Barr, and a clinic receipt. Immediately after Flynt's announcement, Barr released a statement saying that he "never suggested, urged, forced or encouraged anyone, including my ex‑wife, to have an abortion." But Barr, a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the first House member to call for Clinton's impeachment, would not address specific questions as to whether he'd paid the bill.

Though Flynt is in the midst of assembling cases against more Republicans, he says Livingston will be spared. (So will Newt Gingrich, who was under Flynt's microscope before stepping down as speaker.) "I spoke with Livingston's wife last week," Flynt says. "She was a very nice lady. She said she didn't want the details of the investigation published. The suffering was already done. The guy retired, so what's the point?"

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http://www.maryellenmark.com/text/magazines/rolling%20stone/920S-000-018.html

Publisher Larry Flynt levels accusations at Rep. Bob Barr
January 12, 1999

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Flynt is offering up to 1 million for information about sexual indiscretions by members of Congress. He wouldnt (sic) say how much he paid Gail Barr for her affidavit, but said he found her destitute and made a generous financial offer.

Gail Barr declined comment.

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http://articles.cnn.com/1999-01-12/politics/flynt.01_1_hustler-magazine-publisher-gail-barr-bob-barr?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS