(2002-03-21) c

Fortune article describing the Carlyle Group as a harmlessly-successful investment fund. While most of the conspiracy theories are amusingly overblown, this is a firm that's been built on the backs of Bush and other big shots who have lent Carlyle their names, their golden networks of friends in high places, and their insights into how government works... What Bush & Co. actually do is far less pernicious but clearly valuable to Carlyle -they help raise money... Today defense accounts for about 10% of the firm's total investments, but in the early days it was 60%... There's also telecom, which has the biggest team of people devoted to it of any area at Carlyle. "There are dramatic restructurings in the TeleCom and media (MSM) business going on right now, and the one thing they have in common is that they're all driven at some point by government action," says former FCC boss Kennard - who, like Levitt, is a Democrat, which shows that Carlyle can be bipartisan.