The headlines reads “In Banking, Emanuel Made Money and Connections” and here's the nut graph:

The period before he was elected to a House seat from Illinois is a little-known episode of Mr. [Rahm] Emanuel's biography. Former colleagues said the insight it afforded him on the financial services sector is invaluable especially now. But Mr. Emanuel built up strong ties with an industry now at the heart of the economic crisis, one that will be girding for a pitched lobbying battle next year as the incoming Democratic administration considers a potentially sweeping regulatory overhaul.

Take away the “but” and the facts of the story don't change. (Emanuel still got rich from the investment biz.) However, the emphasis sure does. In fact, without that suspect “but,” whatever tension the article attempts to create pretty much vanishes.