Who the hell is this PW article talking to?

For sure, not anyone lacking a conspiracy theory for S&S's hiring of Mary Matalin:

The new conservative imprint that Republican strategist Mary Matalin is starting up with publisher Simon & Schuster was not the result of some ardent pitching or wooing among houses and publishers; rather, it was the result of a longtime relationship between Matalin and S&S executive v-p and publisher David Rosenthal [...] In fact it was Rosenthal--then at Random House--who was the co-editor of [Matalin and Carville's] All's Fair [...] As if that publishing connection weren't enough, consider this, the man behind the curtain for this particular happening is none other than Robert Barnett, the Williams & Connolly lawyer who has brokered book deals for both Hillary and Bill Clinton and dozens of other political figures--including a few for Mary Matalin herself.