Mr. Flynt Goes to Washington
Washington, someone once said, is a swamp that traded malaria for politics. And one man has been making that swamp all the more sweltering since 1983: none other than Larry Flynt, who sends each and every member of Congress a copy of Hustler every month. It’s the publisher’s way of petitioning the government and emphasizing the First Amendment rights he has so doggedly defended throughout his career. The magazines arrive in a plain manila envelope each month at all 535 congressional offices.
The effort was momentarily blocked by the Postal Service in 1984, but this injunction was struck down by the D.C. U.S. District Court, which glibly noted: “Receiving Hustler once each month would not unduly burden a Member of Congress. Members are not forced to read the magazine or other of the mail they receive in volume. We cannot imagine that Congressional offices all lack wastebaskets.”
Congress’s reaction? “It’s insulting behavior on the part of the publisher, but not surprising,” said Rep. Jim Matheson of Utah.
Others approach the matter with a sense of humor. Said one staffer in the National Journal: “For a while, the interns, after their initial shock and befuddlement, were directed to save the Hustlers. We eventually gave a coworker the whole year’s supply for Secret Santa and then she would mail them to her boyfriend in Iraq. Certainly one of the least-heralded ways the office supported our troops.”
Hustler has often taken some light-hearted potshots at the Washington establishment — who could forget their infamous Nailin’ Palin series, for instance?
Flynt does not send copies of the magazine to the executive branch, which must come as a disappointment to the skirt-chasing Onion alter ego of Joe Biden, at the very least. We’re guessing Bill Clinton might have taken an issue or two under “executive advisement” too, given half a chance . . .
