I think this Trib article sums her up

NEIGHBORHOODS FOR SALE He zones. She sells. And it's legal. Alderman OKd zoning for developers who retained his wife as sales agent. She sold homes worth $22 million. By Robert Becker and Dan Mihalopoulos Tribune reporters It's hard to miss Barbara O'Connor's face on a drive through North Side neighborhoods, where her real estate signs beckon buyers to "find your way home." In the last decade she has built a thriving business selling houses and condos, many of which couldn't have been built without zoning changes the developers sought from the 40th Ward alderman—her husband, Patrick O'Connor. Barbara O'Connor has sold more than $22 million worth of houses and condos in the O'Connors' home ward after the projects first got a thumbs up from her husband. And she has sold homes worth millions of dollars in other parts of the city for developers who at one time or another have come to her husband for help.