Kelly Vs. Mell Settled Out Of Court

By Sam Bakken in News on Jan 21, 2005 1:24AM

Alderman Dick caved. As we told you yesterday, Mell said he was willing to retract his allegation that Chris Kelly, Blago's top fundraiser, traded state appointments for $50,000 donations. But for the past week the attorneys were squabbling over the wording of an apology letter. Evidently they came up with something that pleased both parties as the letter went public today.

In it Mell writes:

When I said that you, as the Governor's chief fundraiser, traded appointments to commissions and state boards for $50,000 donations I knew that to be inaccurate. My comments were based upon my misreading of earlier published reports and were an exaggerated extrapolation made by me in the heat of the moment.

We also told you last Friday that Attorney General Lisa Madigan launched an investigation into Mell's allegations. Some would think that Mell's retraction could lead investigators to call the whole thing off. Madigan's office told ABC7 that they don't comment on ongoing investigations. Kelly's attorney told ABC7 that he expects the investigators will take Mell's letter into account.