The Chargers have been "trolling" a San Diego Councilman who's leading opposition to their downtown stadium initiative.
They've sicced their fans on him via Facebook and robo-calls -- and hundreds have barraged his office phone with angry complaints.
Chris Cate, who represents the city’s 6th council district, is a born-and-raised San Diegan who hopes the Chargers stay in town.
But he doesn't think the stadium is a bargain for taxpayers.
Other critics of the project are outraged that the Bolts have personalized the Nov. 8 citywide ballot campaign.
"I'm not intimidated,” Cate said in an interview Friday. “I stand strong in my position. I think this is the wrong deal for San Diego. I don't think it was properly addressed as to what the impacts could be."
Cate notes that he's reached out pro-actively to the Chargers, but still hasn't gotten convincing answers to his questions about their $1.8 billion "Convadium" project in East Village.
Local
Now, after the team took to Facebook with paid advertising and robo-dialing technology, he's been targeted by Bolts-backers flooding his staff with calls that have been less than polite – one was downright threatening. These calls have urged him to see things their way, and scapegoating him as the reason the team will leave town if their initiative fails.
The tactic, first reported in USA Today, is drawing nationwide coverage.
Says one ad: “Why does Chris Cate want the Chargers to leave San Diego? Please call and ask him,” followed by the number of his main office phone at city hall
"I am not taking this personally,” Cate told NBC 7. “I think they should be focused on talking to voters and addressing concerns that we have raised."
Cate's critics say he's been spreading "disinformation" about the Chargers' plan.
They point out that since the Bolts' political blitz, he’s agreed to meet with project backers next week.
"Why is it unseemly to engage with your politicians – isn’t that what democracy’s all about?" says downtown stadium activist Dan McLellan, a former Chargers beat writer for CBSsports.com.
"It's put some heat under him to go, 'Okay, I need to sit down at the table and discuss what I'm talking about', McClellan added. “And that's engaging with your politicians to get change."
But does the team’s anti-Cate strategy have the potential of backfiring and hurting its cause?
"I would really hope so,” says April Boling, an activist with the “No Downtown Stadium” campaign. “I would hope that the voters would see that is dirty politics. This is what people don't like about politics, rather than being on subject, and having a civil discourse."
For their part, the Bolts are actually doubling down on Cate.
Asked for a response to the controversy, Chargers stadium adviser Fred Maas offered this in an email to NBC 7:
“The Chargers have spent the past 15 years and tens of millions of dollars trying to find a solution to stay here in San Diego. It is an insult to our fans and all San Diegans to have inexperienced politicians with blind ambition use our initiative as a vehicle to pursue higher office, like mayor. If they want us to leave for L.A., folks have every right to ask why.”
Maas then provided Cate’s office number and invited people to call him.
