Larry Flynt, who once ran for the White House under the slogan "a smut peddler who cares", yesterday sought to spread his own brand of love around in Washington by offering cash rewards for tales of sexual scandal.

In a full-page advertisement in yesterday's Washington Post, Mr Flynt, the publisher of Hustler magazine, offered a $1m (£500,000) reward for anyone willing to tell all about their affair with an elected official - and provide proof.

"Have you had a sexual encounter with a current member of the United States Congress or a high-ranking government official?" asks the ad. "Can you provide documented evidence of illicit sexual or intimate relations with a congressperson, senator or other prominent officeholder?

Those willing to betray their partners - or, more likely, exes - were invited to contact Mr Flynt or Hustler by a free-phone number or email.

Mr Flynt, who over the last 30 years has tried to use his pornography empire as a platform to campaign for free speech, is no stranger to the ways of Washington. Yesterday's ad marks the second time in a decade that he has dredged Washington in search of scandal. In 1998, at the height of the campaign to impeach Bill Clinton for lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky, Mr Flynt ran a similar ad in the Post.

Then as now, Mr Flynt was a sworn enemy of the Republican party. In his last set of ads, he sought to dig up dirt on the Republican members of Congress who were leading the impeachment campaign against President Clinton.

He had only middling success. Although Mr Flynt claimed at the time to have the goods on up to a dozen prominent Republicans, the ad campaign helped to bring down only one. Robert Livingston - a congressman from Louisiana who was tipped to succeed Newt Gingrich as speaker of the house and had demanded that President Clinton resign because of his conduct with Ms Lewinsky - abruptly retired after learning that Mr Flynt was about to reveal that he had also had an affair.

But Mr Flynt could have some competition this time. Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who is accused of running a prostitution ring that serviced some of the wealthiest and most powerful men of Washington, has also threatened an exposé.

Ms Palfrey hopes to put pressure on her clientele to provide donations for her legal defence. So far, she has claimed only one scalp: Randall Tobias, who had led President Bush's campaign against HIV-Aids. Mr Tobias stepped down in April.



Fortunes of Flynt



Larry Flynt is arguably America's most celebrated pornographer. The 64-year-old has built a chain of strip clubs, along with an explicit magazine, Hustler, into a business empire. Left paralysed below the waist by a shooting 30 years ago, he is also a self-styled defender of free speech, a campaign he occasionally pursues through bizarre acts, such as appearing in court wearing a US flag as a nappy. He won a landmark case in 1988 against the late Reverend Jerry Falwell, a force of the Christian right, who sued him for $50m for a cartoon about losing his virginity.