Seat at the Table

Talk about name-dropping. Readers like to know that the author of the piece they are reading has a seat at the A-list table. Well, New York Times star business writer Andrew Ross Sorkin shows he’s sitting pretty indeed in his can’t-put-it-down “Dealbook” column on Tuesday (Sept. 14). Sorkin’s table is in the Grill Room at the Four Seasons restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, and he begins by quoting his lunch guest, film director Oliver Stone: “You know, half the people in this place could be prosecuted.” Sorkin then goes on to name some of the bold-face names also in the legendary joint, including such business heavyweights as Blackstone Group Chairman Stephen Schwarzman and former Citigroup Chairman Sanford Weill, “the mother of all evil,” says Stone “with a wry smile.” It goes on. For more insight on Wall Street and the new financial reforms passed by Congress, see Marcia Clemmitt’s CQ Researcher report “Financial Industry Overhaul” (July 30, 2010).

Thomas J. Colin, Managing Editor, CQ Researcher