Kurt Sanborn was the man who sold the riverfront baseball stadium to Manchester six years ago. On Monday, he was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for fraud. Unfortunately, it wasn't for swindling city taxpayers. That one he got away with.

Sanborn stole nearly $300,000 from Diamond Action, the company that built the ballpark. He made up phony companies and submitted false invoices, then pocketed the money Diamond Action thought it was paying for genuine services.

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The bill of goods he sold the aldermen in 2003, though, was a bigger rip-off. Call it the Great Baseball Diamond Heist of 2003. Sanborn convinced 10 aldermen and the mayor that he had lined up $40 million in private development that would definitely happen if only they borrowed $27.5 million and built a baseball stadium.

At the June 3, 2003, aldermanic meeting, Alderman Ted Gatsas discovered that part of the proposed deal would not happen as presented. Sanborn said, preposterously, that he'd still hit the $40 million mark. "There's all kinds of ways to get to that figure," he said.

That was the flip, vague sales pitch Mayor Bob Baines and 10 aldermen bought. The "guarantees" Sanborn offered were not, and skeptics pointed that out. But Sanborn successfully suckered the mayor and a supermajority of aldermen. City taxpayers have spent $1.7 million subsidizing the ballpark -- so far.

In an editorial before the final vote, this newspaper labeled Sanborn's ballpark proposal "a tax sinkhole" and urged aldermen to hold out for a better deal. That assessment was obvious to anyone who carefully scrutinized the plan. Ten aldermen didn't, and they voted for it anyway. They were: Frank Guinta, Mary Sysyn, Dan O'Neil, Mike Lopez, Bill Shea, Betsi DeVries, George Smith, Henry "Hank" Thibault, Armand Forest and David Wihby. Guinta, O'Neil, Lopez, Shea, and DeVries still hold elected office.

Those who read the fine print and voted no were: Ted Gatsas, Ed Osborne, Real Pinard and Mike Garrity.

Con men like Sanborn depend on people who don't bother to check the details. Because Manchester had too many of those in elected office six years ago, taxpayer dollars are being diverted from roads and schools to the ballpark -- a transfer that will continue indefinitely.