The Speaker.

• Author: STARR, ALEXANDRA
• Position: Speak of the House-elect Bob Livingston

What you should know about Bob Livingston

When Bob Livingston rose from virtual obscurity to Speaker of the House-elect, he made one point very clear: He was not Newt Gingrich, Part II. Don't expect inspirational speeches and road shows from this speaker, warned Livingston. The focus now was on the "perspiration-filled" process of grinding out bills. Instead of partisan bickering, he would reach out to members across the aisle. And while he inherited a speakership with enormous power, Livingston promised to give chairmen more authority over the legislation passing through their committees. The new speaker, in other words, would be managing the House the way congressional leaders did in the '70s and '80s.

Livingston's collegial approach to governing, however, is unlikely to change the GOP's policies of the last four years. Livingston and Gingrich may differ in style, but on political issues they see eye-to-eye: Both are pro-business, pro-defense, and anti-abortion southern Republicans. And if Gingrich often seemed a man at odds with himself, Livingston has his own contradictions. The Lousiana congressman takes pride in his reputation as a fiscal conservative, but he has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars back to his district and looks after industries that have contributed generously to his campaigns. Livingston is universally hailed as a straight shooter, but his positions on ethics policing have made it a lot easier for his colleagues to escape scrutiny for questionable influence peddling. The future speaker may make sure the trains run on time in the House, but he's not going to push it to become a more open or accountable institution. "It's a new driver, but it's the same car, and the same gas in the tank," says Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), who is the ranking Democratic member on the Appropriations Committee Livingston chairs. "The legislative result won't be much different."

Bringing Home the Bacon

Look at Robert Linlithgow Livingston's heritage, and his ascension to the speakership seems to have been programmed into his bloodline. No fewer than 20 of his forebears have served in government. His namesake, Robert Livingston, helped draft the Declaration of Independence, administered the oath of office to George Washington, and played a key role in the negotiation of the Louisiana Purchase. Representative Livingston looks so much like the statue of his New York ancestor on display in the U.S. Capitol you'd think he'd posed for it.

For all of his aristocratic ancestry, however, Livingston did not have a privileged upbringing. His father was an alcoholic who left the family when Livingston was six and a half years old. While his mother struggled to raise two children in New Orleans on a secretary's salary, his father left for New York, and then relocated to Spain to avoid paying child support. Livingston worked in the summers at Avondale shipyards from the time he was 14 to help out at home. After a year at Tulane, and a stint in the Navy, he met his father in Europe. "When he was sober, it was great," Livingston recalled. "And when he wasn't sober, it wasn't so great. I saw him a couple of times when he was sick after that. He died when he was 51." What effect did the experience have on his political career? "I was a quick and immediate co-sponsor of Henry Hyde's alimony bill to allow mothers to pursue deadbeat dads across state lines," he says. "Frankly, if we'd had that law on the books when I was growing up, my mother, sister, and I probably wouldn't have lived in the circumstances we did."

After earning his law degree at Tulane, Livingston worked as a federal prosecutor for six years. Then, in 1976, with all of $5,000 in the bank, Livingston ran for Congress. "I lost that race," he says. "And ABC News followed the man who beat me as its Freshman, from the time he was sworn in in January to the day he went to prison in July." Livingston won the special election that followed, and he's had only token opposition for his seat ever since.

Throughout his political career, Livingston has forged good relationships with politicians from across the aisle. In 1987, after an unsuccessful bid for the Governorship, he co-hosted a fundraising party to help one of his opponents retire his campaign debt. "Remember, this is when I was a Democrat, and we had had some tough things to say about each other in the race," says Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, who later switched over to the Republican party. "But he put all of that aside to do a very generous thing. I think that tells you a lot about him" Livingston also works well with Rep. Obey. "He's one of my closest friends in the House," says the...