Larry Flynt Offering $1 Million to Anyone Who Has Had an Affair, ‘Gay or Straight,’ With Rick Perry

This is not Larry Flynt’s first stab at de-robing hypocritical political candidates. But if it works, it will be the most dramatic.

According to Reuters, Larry Flynt thinks Texas Governor Rick Perry is the next candidate who needs a public, humiliating take-down.

The news agency reports that the ‘Hustler’ publisher took out an ad in both The Onion and the Austin Chronicle propositioning anyone who has had sexual affairs with Rick Perry to come forward — for the pretty price of $1 million.

“Have you had a gay or straight sexual encounter with Governor Rick Perry?” the ad reads. “Can you provide documented evidence of illicit sexual or intimate relations with the governor? Larry Flynt and ‘Hustler’ magazine will pay you up to $1 million if we choose to publish your verified story and use your material.”

While it sounds unlikely that anyone will come forward (‘The Onion’ being a satire publication and the ‘Austin Chronicle’ being an alternative news paper) if someone does rise from Perry’s past, Flynt’s plan would prove debilitating for the candidate.

Flynt has been trying this type of take-down for decades. As Vanity Fair notes, as early as 1976, Flynt took out an ad in “The Washington Post offering an up-to-$1-million reward to anyone who could provide ‘documentary evidence of illicit sexual relations with a Congressman, Senator or other prominent officeholder.’”

He pulled a similar stunt in 1999, around the time of the Clinton/Lewinsky debacle, when he offered $1 million to anyone with evidence of improprieties on the part any of the Republicans who were seeking to impeach then-President Bill Clinton.

Flynt even found some success, when, according to Reuters, “then-incoming U.S. House Speaker Robert Livingston resigned after Flynt claimed to have uncovered evidence of an extramarital affair by the Louisiana Republican.”

Flynt told Reuters, “I’ve been doing this for 35 years, We’ve found running these ads were very successful in finding sources to come forward.” That said, he’s not alone.

In August, a full-page ad in the Austin Chronicle by a Ron Paul supporter read, “Have you ever had sex with Rick Perry?”

“Are you a stripper, an escort, or just a ‘young hottie’ impressed by an arrogant, entitled governor of Texas? Contact CASH [Committee Against Sexual Hypocrisy], and we will help you publicize your direct dealings with a Christian-buzzwords-spouting, ‘family values’ hypocrite and fraud.”

It’s interesting to note that Perry is being singled out by Flynt and Paul supporters over his opponent Mitt Romney. One has to wonder if the Texas governor has a reputation in elite circles which inspired both entities to encourage ex-partners to come forward to expose him.

Perry has built his career on preaching Christian values to voters. If either Flynt or CASH are successful at proving him hypocritical, it would prove a dramatic turn of events for 2012′s elections and Perry’s career as a whole.