The former mayor has been fat-catting through political connections since retirement.

fat-catting 是由名词 fat cat（字面意思是"肥猫"）加上动词后缀 -ing 构成的动词。fat cat 在英语中常用来比喻"有钱有势的人"，特指那些利用特权或政治关系获取财富的人。fat-catting 作为动词，表示"像权贵阶层那样过着奢华的生活"。