Tim Novak wrote February 22, 2008, at the Chicago Sun-Times that indicted political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko asked Gov. Rod Blagojevich to appoint real estate agent Donna Schwan Jackson to the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities, "according to the court papers" filed by Rezko's lawyers with the U.S. District Court on February 21, 2008.
Jackson, who represented the sellers, Frederic Wondisford and his wife, Sally Radovick, was the real estate agent who sold Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) his Kenwood manion and the adjacent side lot to Rita Rezko, Rezko's wife.
Jackson said she was unaware Rezko ever tried to get her the state appointment.
"They might have put my name down there because I'm a woman who takes in children with disabilities," Jackson said. "I sold Tony Rezko his first condo, when he moved to Hyde Park. I've known him for years and years. He's known about my work with disabled children.''
The Wondisfords hired Jackson's company, MetroPro Realty, to sell their mansion and the adjacent lot. Several people wanted to buy the lot without the house, but Jackson said the Wondisfords "insisted these two properties close on the same day." [snip]
Jackson, a longtime Democrat, was a political fund-raiser for former Gov. Dan Walker. Her husband served on the state lottery board under Republican Gov. James R. Thompson.