Mayor Tolson's "Spin" on how he views the $30,000 "contribution" from developers:
(From statements made in Sultan's February 8, 2007 Council Meeting; listen to MP3 audio)

"Mayor Tolson There've been a lot of heated emotions this evening. And I can appreciate being out there because I was out there once with a lot of….assumptions on how things happen. It is different on this side. Does it make it right? No. Is it frustrating at times? Oh, absolutely. In, in regards to, uh, the terminology in the newspaper of accepting a bribe, I do believe a bribe means it has to be for personal gain. Um…I, uh, probably a better term to use is trying to buy influence. Did-did I get upset with the comment? Yeah. Did I seek out legal advice? Yeah. As an elected official, you ain't got nothin' you can do about it. And that's-that's just the reality of it. And-and I wished council to not respond because it wasn't worth responding to."