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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/nyregion/20interns.html?ref=nyregion
They are the children and relatives of boldface names, like Lloyd
C. Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs; Peter
G. Peterson, co-founder of the
Blackstone Group; and Laurence
A. Tisch, who was a hotel mogul and chief executive of CBS.
Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, in April 2010. One of his children is among the lucky few who landed internships /at New York’s City Hall /under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
They enjoyed a comfortable childhood and, as it turns out, a coveted
summer job: They all landed internships /at New York’s City Hall under
Mayor Michael
R. Bloomberg, according to a list obtained /by The New York Times /
through the Freedom of Information Act.
Of course, it is not unusual /for young people /with connections /to win choice internships /in all kinds of workplaces. But the records offer a glimpse /inside the social and power circles of the Bloomberg administration, which has accommodated dozens of young people /with connections /to the mayor’s friends, business associates and government appointees/ for the prestigious, if unpaid, slots.
Take Jacob Doctoroff, whose father, Daniel
L. Doctoroff, was deputy mayor and is now the president of Bloomberg
L.P. He had an internship /in 2002. He was in the eighth grade.
“It was either that or going to summer camp,” Jacob Doctoroff said in an
interview. Now at Yale,
he recalled enjoying his stint /at the mayor’s office of management
information systems. “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.”
The mayor’s office is not eager to share information /about who gets the internships and took three months to furnish the list, after the Freedom of Information Act request and repeated follow-up messages. Stu Loeser, a mayoral spokesman, emphasized that the internships awarded to relatives of insiders was a tiny fraction of the almost 1,500 that have been awarded since Mr. Bloomberg took office.
He said a vast majority of the students were recruited /through job fairs, online applications or school programs. The children of at least two employees of The Times have also had internships /during the Bloomberg years.
Still, one in five of those selected are recommended /from someone employed /by the administration, Mr. Loeser said.
And Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris appears to carry some clout over selections.
Consider the Freedman family.
Nina P. Freedman graduated /from the Fieldston School /the same year /as
Ms. Harris, in 1973, and the two served as bridesmaids in a friend’s
1988 wedding. Her sister, Susan K. Freedman, worked with Ms. Harris /at
the New York City Arts Commission, and is now president of the Public Art
Fund, where she has helped Ms. Harris promote projects like Olafur
Eliasson’s “Waterfalls.” Her husband, Richard, officiated at Ms.
Harris’s wedding.
Susan Freedman’s son Aaron landed City Hall internships /in 2007 and 2009; another son, David, had one in 2009. Nina Freedman’s daughter, Leah, won a slot in 2008.
Lydia Leinsdorf, a granddaughter of Erich Leinsdorf, the conductor, was
living with her family/ in the same Fifth Avenue building /as Ms. Harris
//when she landed her internship /in the summer of 2002, before she entered
Princeton.
Asked whether she played any role in internships being awarded /to the
Freedmans or Ms. Leinsdorf or anyone else, Ms. Harris declined to
respond. Asked about Ms. Harris’s involvement, Mr. Loeser said, “Lots of
people at City Hall are approached /about internships and recommend
promising young people () they’ve met.”
In a 2002 opinion //that allowed Ms. Bloomberg’s daughter, Emma, to work as an unpaid adviser, 전구
the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board declared that (“although Ms. Bloomberg will not be compensated /by the city /for her work), the opportunity to work in City Hall confers prestige /as well /as experience //that is not widely available and that many would regard as valuable.”
Career counselors view the internships, which are primarily summer stints, as plum résumé enhancers. The application process is somewhat informal. Some offices recruit their own interns; others take /from a general pool of applicants.
The individuals who screen applicants, Mr. Loeser said, “weigh academic
majors, areas of interest, G.P.A.’s sometimes, skills and relevant job
experience.”
“Recommendations from people who know the applicant’s abilities and work ethic are a factor,” he added, “but only one factor.”
This year, more than 450 students vied /for 152 positions.
vied;
To strive for victory or superiority;
contend.
To be sure, elected officials, including Mr. Bloomberg’s predecessor, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, have long hired the children of their friends, campaign donors and political allies as interns or full-paid staff.
But the mayor has made his distaste for nepotism clear. In 2004, he criticized the state system /for appointing judges, saying it “allows party leaders/ to dictate hiring decisions /based /on party connections — or family connections — and not on merit.”
And the Conflicts of Interest Board has routinely circulated a
memorandum /about summer internships, urging employees to “resist natural
parental instincts” and (to) refrain from forwarding the names or résumés of
their children /to any city agency.
Most of those awarded internships are college or graduate students. But there are exceptions: Amy Secunda is the daughter of Thomas F. Secunda, one of the co-founders of Bloomberg L.P. She was an intern in 2008, as a high school student /from Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. Her family did not return calls /for comment.
Another high school intern was Alexander Blankfein, Mr. Blankfein’s son. He worked for six weeks in 2003, records show, when he was still a student at Fieldston, and before he enrolled at Harvard. He declined to comment.
The roster has also included grandchildren and stepchildren of people /with ties to Mr. Bloomberg and his friends, including the grandson of Robert A. Caro, chronicler of Robert Moses, and the stepson of Neil Simon, the playwright, who endorsed Mr. Bloomberg last fall.
At the annual Gracie Mansion barbecues held for the interns, some students noticed a clubby atmosphere, where the mayor would joke about how the interns were making only $1 less than he was.
“You’d get a lot of interns who said that their aunt was on the board of
something, or that their relatives worked /for city government,” said
Hayley Kucich, a Bryn Mawr graduate /from Long Island who had internships
in 2005 and 2006. 명사
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