This is what's known as "hush money"

Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson has spent $14,000 of city money to defuse a potential lawsuit caused by his bigoted comments that he actually didn't say, well did say, but was misunderstood, and besides it's all an evil Republican plot to discredit him, anyway.

The settlement came with the standard "this suit has no merit but we're going to pay the plaintiffs anyway" disclaimer. The two plaintiffs, Rocky's former secretary and former public spokescritter, are dedicated liberals who while sick of Rocky, didn't want to be accused of being Republican stooges. So they went along with the charade. Everyone will make nice, and the Salt Lake Media will do their part and promptly forget the whole thing happened.