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'Robert Linlithgow Livingston IV', better known as 'Bob Livingston' (born April 30, 1943), is a disgraced Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist and a former Republican U.S. Representative from Louisiana. He is best known for being chosen as Newt Gingrich's successor as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives late in 1998, only to resign in the wake of a sex scandal.
Livingston was born in Colorado Springs, but spent most of his youth in New Orleans. He graduated from St. Martin's Episcopal School in New Orleans in 1960. He received his B.A. in economics from Tulane University in 1967, a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. His education was interrupted by a two year stint in the United States Navy. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from Tulane in 1968.
Out of college, he joined the law practice of David C. Treen, who would become Louisiana's first Republican congressman and governor since Reconstruction. Treen had been an active Republican back in the days when the party barely existed in Louisiana, and this connection allowed Livingston to make valuable contacts in GOP circles. He was a delegate to all Republican conventions between 1976 and 2000. Livingston later worked for the U.S. attorney for Louisiana's Eastern District, the Orleans Parish district attorney's office, and the Louisiana state attorney general, the Democrat William J. "Billy" Guste, Jr.

Contents

Career in Congress

Chairman, House Appropriations Committee

Resignation

Subsequent career

Family tragedy

Notes

References

Career in Congress

Livingston resigned his position as head of the state attorney general's organized crime unit in 1976 when he won the Republican nomination for Louisiana's 1st Congressional District, based in the New Orleans suburbs and including a large part of the city itself. The seat had opened up when 36-year incumbent Democrat and former House Armed Services Committee chairman F. Edward Hébert retired. Livingston narrowly lost to one-term state legislator Richard Tonry. Livingston was denied victory by the third-party candidacy of former Sixth District Congressman John Rarick of St. Francisville, the seat of West Feliciana Parish. Rarick, who had been one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress during his tenure, presumably siphoned off enough votes from Livingston to allow Tonry to win.
However, allegations surfaced of "tombstone" votes for Tonry in both the primary and general election. Tonry was forced to resign in May 1977 and lost the Democratic nomination for the special election in August to state Representative Ron Faucheux. However, Faucheux was dogged by allegations that he was gay, which cost him a good deal of support in the socially conservative First District. Faucheux also faced an independent challenge from the left. Livingston took advantage of the split in liberal ranks to become the first Republican to represent New Orleans in Congress since Reconstruction.[1] He won a full term with 86 percent of the vote in 1978 and was reelected eleven times, several times unopposed.
Although well-known in Louisiana, Livingston was a relatively low-key congressman for his first eighteen years in Washington. However, he managed early in his career to land a spot on the Appropriations Committee, which allowed him to steer millions of dollars to his district. This, along with his conservative stances on most issues, made him popular with his constituents, most of whom had never been previously represented by a Republican. He also received many contributions from defense contractors.
Livingston ran for governor in 1987 but finished third, behind Buddy Roemer and Edwin Edwards in a field of nine, ten points short of gaining a berth in the runoff. Two other major candidates finished even behind Livingston: then Democratic Congressman Wilbert J. "Billy" Tauzin, Jr., of the neighboring Third District and outgoing Secretary of State James H. "Jim" Brown of Ferriday in Concordia Parish.
Livingston endorsed his House colleague Charles Elson "Buddy" Roemer, III, then a Democrat, after the primary, but the runoff election was cancelled after Roemer's opponent, Governor Edwin Washington Edwards, conceded the race to Roemer. It was said that then Governor Edwards wanted to face Livingston in a general election, and when that did not happen, Edwards pulled out of the second round of balloting to prevent Roemer from consolidating majority support.
Despite his showing in the gubernatorial race, Livingston remained popular in his district and went on to win easy re-elections as he moved up the leadership ladder in the House.

Chairman, House Appropriations Committee

Livingston first came to national attention in 1995, when he was named chairman of the Appropriations Committee after the Republican takeover of the House. This instantly made him one of the most powerful members of Congress. During one committee session, he brandished a machete to demonstrate his seriousness as a budget-cutter.
During the Monica Lewinsky scandals, Livingston was one of many Republicans who demanded Clinton's resignation, and later impeachment, for perjury. After Newt Gingrich resigned as Speaker in part because of Republican losses in the 1998 elections, Livingston announced that he was not only running for Speaker but had lined up enough support to win. He was nominated as the Republican candidate for Speaker without opposition. As the Republicans had narrowly retained their majority, this effectively made him Speaker-elect.

Resignation

During the Clinton impeachment scandal, ''Hustler Magazine'' publisher Larry Flynt placed an article in his magazine offering up to $1,000,000 for information on sexual indiscretions by Republican officials. Flynt received evidence that Livingston had strayed outside of his marriage and he was preparing to publish this information. Livingston got word that the article was pending. During debate over the impeachment resolution on December 19, 1998, Livingston surprised everyone by stepping down as Speaker-elect and announced he would resign from the House in May 1999. He was succeeded by David Vitter, who later went on to become the first popularly elected Republican senator from Louisiana. Vitter defeated Treen in a hard-fought special election runoff. In 2007, Vitter was revealed to have used escorts working for Deborah Jeane Palfrey.

Subsequent career

Soon after retiring from public life he founded The Livingston Group, one of many lobbying groups in the nation's capital. One important client of The Livingston Group is the Republic of Turkey. The focus of this lobbying is on US relations as they pertain to international and historical issues affecting the Republic of Turkey, who gave over 13 million dollars since 2000 to lobby the American government. Critics contend that this lobbying is a form of genocide denial, --Turkey does not want the U.S. to officially recognize the slaughter of up to 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 as a genocide.^[1][2]
In 2003, Livingston was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.
Livingston is married to the former Bonnie Robichaux (also born 1943), a native of Raceland in Lafourche Parish. They reside in Washington and in Metairie in suburban Jefferson Parish.

Family tragedy

Richard Godwin Livingston, the son of Bob and Bonnie Livingston, was killed on July 25, 2006, while he was trimming trees in New Orleans. Livingston (born 1969), was electrocuted in the Lakeview neighborhood when he apparently touched a wire. Emergency workers pronounced him dead at the scene.

Notes

1. Crowley, Michael. "K Street Cashes in on the 1915 Armenian Genocide," ''The New Republic'', January 23, 2007
2. ANCA Video Sets Record Straight On Bob Livingston's Genocide Denial, Armenian National Committee of America

References

★ Billy Hathorn, "The Republican Party in Louisiana, 1920–1980," Master's thesis (1980), Northwestern State University at Natchitoches

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★ A Livingston Legacy Revised