As you say, Skousen was for many years a kind of gray eminence among Mormon conservatives. At one time, Romney was proud to cite Skousen as one of his influences, but it wouldn't surprise me if the Skousen family has been dropped from Mitt's Christmas Card list.
"Mitt Romney is so right-wing that even the CIA-subsidized fascists at the National Review consider him a radical:
"Over the weekend, a YouTube video of Mitt Romney arguing with an Iowa talk-radio host began rocketing around the Internet. The 20-minute conversation was somewhat startling in that Romney talks about his Mormon faith in greater depth than he publicly has thus far. ... "
"'You and I share a common affection for the late Cleon Skousen,' the radio host says. The former governor agrees, affirming Skousen was his professor and when the radio host professes his fondness for Skousen’s book The Making of America, while he acknowledges he hasn’t read it, Mitt quickly says 'That’s worth reading.' ... ” -
http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/2009/01/mitt-romney-was-student-of-mormon.html