Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) apologized Thursday to Gov. Blagojevich's chief fund-raiser for making a charge the alderman now says he knew to be "inaccurate": that Christopher Kelly traded appointments to state commissions for $50,000 donations to Mell's son-in-law, the governor.

"I was probably hurt and upset, and so I said things that probably in retrospect I should not have said," Mell told reporters.

In a total retreat aimed at getting out from under Kelly's threat of a lawsuit, Mell wrote the governor's money man a letter pre-approved by Kelly's attorney Bob Clifford. In it, Mell states that the explosive charge he made to the Chicago Sun-Times -- an accusation that triggered a joint investigation by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine -- was an "exaggerated extrapolation made . . . in the heat of the moment."

"When I said that you, as the governor's chief fund-raiser, traded appointments to commissions and state boards for $50,000 donations, I knew that to be inaccurate," Mell wrote. "My comments were based upon my misreading of earlier published reports. . . . I have, in fact, no personal knowledge now or then of any contributions being made in exchange for any board or commission appointments."

"Alderman Mell has admitted his mistake. I required that he do that or be forced to tell his story in a court of law. The truth is not negotiable and we stood our ground and the truth has emerged," said Kelly, who characterized the tempestuous two weeks since Mell's initial statements as "unnecessarily trying on me and my family."

Blagojevich, who has publicly sided with Kelly during the uproar, was touring southern Illinois and could not be reached.