City councilman Chris Cate continues to gather cash

Still under investigation by the state attorney general’s office in the case of a confidential city attorney opinion leaked to lobbyists for SoccerCity, San Diego city councilman Chris Cate continues to gather cash from well-heeled special interests.

Latest to give is Arkansas-based retail giant WalMart, which on December 9 came up with $5000 at Cate’s behest for 100 free Christmas Trees the councilman handed out to veterans, per a January 4 disclosure report. The politically embattled Cate showed up on KFMB-TV billed as a “special elf” to promote the handout. “We are a military town and we were able to secure the funding necessary to give a hundred free Christmas Trees to military families and veterans getting ready for the Christmas season.” Walmart wasn’t credited.

Cate picked up another $5000 from Rancho Guejito, owner of the sprawling North County property ultimately believed slated for development. That money went to 2017’s Asian Film Festival.

Finally forced to retire from the county board of supervisors thanks to term limits, two long-standing Republicans remain in possession of tidy political war chests to be divvied up in as yet unknown ways. Greg Cox ended last year with $64,305 and colleague Dianne Jacob’s 2016 re-election fund reported a record $505,902 cash on hand. A $1700 contribution to the Alzheimer’s San Diego was more than offset by $2724 in interest on the account from Charles Schwab & Co.