April 23, 2006

Prisoner of X in The Times Picayune

The Times Picayune
On The Hill
Sunday, April 23, 2006
By Bruce Alpert and Bill Walsh

Livingston bluffed out of his job?

Former Rep. Bob Livingston was "tricked" into giving up the speakership in 1998, said the former editor of Hustler Magazine in a new book, Prisoner of X. The woman who the magazine had been told was involved with Livingston hung up the phone on the magazine's investigator without confirming any affair.

"We didn't have anything," said former editor Allan MacDonnell.

Afterward, when Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, reported on its Web site that Hustler was investigating Livingston's extramarital affairs, the Metairie Republican admitted he had on occasion strayed from his marriage. A couple of days later, as the House was voting to impeach President Clinton on grounds that he had lied about a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, Livingston announced he would not take the top position in the House and leave office the following year, suggesting that Clinton follow his example. Now, MacDonnell said it was all unnecessary -- Livingston could have declined to discuss the matter because his magazine "no way had the goods." Livingston, now a successful lobbyist, declined to comment.

Hustler Publisher Larry Flynt has disputed MacDonnell's account, saying the magazine had three sources about Livingston, including an unnamed Louisiana judge, a congressional intern and a lobbyist.

From the The Times Picayune.

...

Share a link to this entry:

...

[ Edit ]