But in November, Livingston acceded instead to Republican Party wishes and agreed to serve as Speaker. Now that Mr. Livingston has suddenly made a U-turn, turning down the job of Speaker and saying he will be retiring from Congress, it is presumed he will, as heretofore planned, seek work in the corporate sector as a lobbyist. Following revelations that Livingston had had extra-marital affairs, congressman Livingston astutely played the situation for all it was worth. The plot thickened with an announcement by Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine, in which the purveyor of porn vehemently denied having anything to do with revelations of Livingston's marital infidelities. Thus, contrary to what is being ingrained into the public consciousness, the dirt on Livingston neither came from Larry Flynt nor from Hustler magazine.
Speculation is rampant.
But according to Sherman Skolnick, the dirt on Livingston was first leaked by Cokie Roberts, a reporter who works for the ABC network. Cokie Roberts is the daughter of the late congressman Hale Boggs. Congressman Boggs died in a suspicious plane crash shortly after he became publicly critical of the Warren Commission report. The notion that Cokie Roberts has been rewarded for her silence regarding the suspicious circumstances is not far-fetched. Livingston, says Skolnick, is himself a native of Louisiana and is viewed unfavorably, by some, in the mileau of Louisiana politics.