Bloomberg's Well-Connected Interns

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn't reach far beyond his social circle to staff his pool of City Hall interns: A list of past interns obtained by The New York Times (via a Freedom of Information Act request) reveals that many big-name children and relatives of the rich and powerful—like Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, Blackstone Group co-founder Peter G. Peterson, and former CBS CEO Laurence A. Tisch—have been hired for unpaid internships under Bloomberg. Jacob Doctoroff, the son of Bloomberg LP President Daniel L. Doctoroff, got hired as an intern while he was in the 8th grade. “I truthfully couldn’t tell you how I got the internship,” he said, “but you’d be working with a bunch of 35- to 45-year-olds, and you didn’t have a sense that you were in an internship program.” Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser said only a small percentage of internships were awarded to those with connections to the office, but admitted that one in five of interns have been recommended by an employee in the administration.