The scandal involving South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who ran off to Argentina to see his mistress on Father's Day weekend, is all the rage among the mainstream media. When a story is hot, it is not unusual for other media outlets to find a local angle, and "House of Cards" author William Cohan writing for Fortune has not only found a Wall Street angle to the Sanford scandal, but a dealmaking one that also involves some of today's big-name players.
It seems the first lady of the Palmetto state, Jenny Sanford (maiden name Sullivan), was a dealmaker in the 1980s at Lazard. And her resume suggests she wasn't just a faceless managing director either, but a real mover and shaker who as part of a Steven Rattner team (now the Obama administration's head of the Auto Task Force) helped launch some big names in private equity such as Providence Equity Partners founder Jonathan Nelson.
So how did Jenny meet the governor? Well, there is a dealmaking angle to that too. Before the governor entered politics, he had a summer job at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) while a student at the University of Virginia's Darden School. It seems they met when he was at Goldman. I wonder what Matt Taibbi would say about that? - Matthew Wurtzel
See story about Jenny Sanford from Fortune
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