Private equity has direct line to new administration Jan. 19, 2017 12:05 PM ET1By: Stephen Alpher, SA News Editor There's not just Wilbur Ross who will serve as Commerce Secretary, but also Blackstone (NYSE:BX) CEO Steve Schwarzman who will chair the President's Strategic and Policy Forum, and attorney Jay Clayton - who has advised on numerous major P-E deals - to lead the SEC. Aside from those official posts, the president-elect has met with the heads of Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) and KKR since his election. "There seems to be more interest in the advice of real-world practitioners than in the past," says the head of the