Enron by the Sea triumphs again. Give credit to the con artists who masked the facts regarding Proposition D. In San Diego, the “strong mayor” form of government preceded the city council/manager form of government and dates back to 1931 when the public got fed up with its ongoing corruption and ousted the then-strong mayor and created San Diego’s city council/manager government. Mayor Jerry Sanders and City Councilmen Kevin Faulconer and Carl DeMaio made many believe it was the city manager who created the pension mess, when in reality it was then-Mayor Susan Golding who orchestrated it. Ironically, this is the same mayor and same councilmen who approved cutting police, creating fire station brownouts, cutting library and recreation center hours — yet who mystically claim to have money to spend on a ninth, unneeded $1 million-plus City Council district. Much of their false claim of need was to break the voting ties at City Council, which could have been done by bringing the mayor back to the council meetings. Again, give credit to the con artists who planned the whole series of “strong mayor” ballot proposition elections in off-election years, when typically only around 35 percent of the eligible voters turn out. Then there are the large sums of special-interest money from developers and the like who helped to buy much of the pro publicity, and who then have easy access to the “strong mayor.” This mayor and the same councilmen made many claims of correcting the financial mess this city was in. In reality, they have only succeeded in cutting public services and deferring the bulk of the mess into the future through restructured bonds at even greater cost to the public. Outsourcing? That is just another way for the “strong mayor” to pay off campaign contributors. So fasten your seatbelts, San Diegans. It’s going to be a bumpy ride. Oh … and don’t forget to thank the San Diego County Taxpayers Association the next time you get a water-bill increase or other fee increases to pay for that $1 million-plus ninth council district, not including its staff healthcare and pension benefits. Jarvis Ross Point Loma