Mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson was downplaying controversy that he sat by silently while a local business owner called Speaker Christine Quinn a "whore" and could "kiss (his) ass." But the man who was caught on tape making the remarks certainly was doing his part of mop-up duty. Tea And Sympathy owner Sean Kavanagh-Dowsett wrote an email to Quinn saying, "Please believe me when I say that the comment that I blurted out was a pathetic attempt to get a laugh out of a couple of people in the room. This inappropriate and rude comment was meant as a joke (a bad one) and was made in such an off-the-cuff manner that I didn't remember having said it." The small businessman also insisted that Thompson could not have heard the ill-advised joke, be caused he never would have "entertained it." And if you could not use your power as Mayor Bloomberg's right-hand woman to mess with his business, he'd love that as well. A spokeswoman for Quinn said that Thompson did apologize for the incident privately over phone and e-mail.