Illinois Governor's Wife Cleans Up on Real Estate Commissions

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Gov. Blagojevich's wife got nearly $50,000 from a real estate deal in late 2002 involving Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a developer and former top Blagojevich political fund-raiser now under federal indictment.

In the following two months, the governor began giving friends of Rezko seats on influential state boards and began hiring former Rezko employees to upper-level state jobs.

The chain of events in December 2002 and January 2003 is detailed in records obtained by the Sun-Times. It's the first record of Patti Blagojevich making money off a Rezko deal around the time Rezko began seeking favors from the governor.

The governor's office vehemently denied that the first lady's business dealings with Rezko had anything to do with his influence in her husband's administration.

Illinois may make history with a Governor and wife indicted.