Media Credit: Javier Garcia-Albea

"The last thing I could ever do is publish something that wasn't true, because it'd kill me. And I know that. So I function at a higher standard than mainstream media." That's what Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt told Howard Kurtz, host of CNN's Reliable Sources, in July 2007, just days after Hustler's reportorial handiwork forced Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) to admit he had employed "D. C. madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey's escort service.

Vitter came clean after Flynt long-time investigator Dan Moldea discovered that the Louisiana lawmaker's name appeared in Palfrey's telephone records, admitting that he had a "very serious sin in [his] past." What made the sordid unveiling even more juicy by Washington's standards-and a coveted prize for Flynt-is that Vitter, when he was a state representative, had pronounced President Bill Clinton "morally unfit to govern" and had based his political career on a socially conservative agenda.

Like much else in Washington, it was a case of history repeating itself. In 1998, Flynt's investigation of congressional dalliances in the shadow of impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton ended the career of another Louisiana politician, Bob Livingston, who was about to become House Speaker, a seat only two steps removed from the Presidency in the line of succession. The House Speaker-elect was forced to resign when Flynt revealed that Livingston had engaged in extramarital affairs.

Arguably, this was real news-salacious, certainly, but when politicians run for office on the basis of their sterling character, evidence of moral transgressions is newsworthy and of value to the citizenry.

So what drives a man-who makes his living from magazines and videos that concentrate on the graphic depiction of explicit sex-to expose the sexual escapades of Washington's powerful elite?

On July 13, 2007, just two hours before Flynt taped the interview with Kurtz, he spoke candidly with the authors of this article at a Beverly Hills restaurant, addressing the topic of checkbook journalism and providing insight on his motives for offering $1 million to anyone who "had a sexual encounter with a current member of the United States Congress or a high-ranking government official" or who could document evidence of illicit sexual or intimate relations with a prominent politician.

Continued...

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