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Stories by national reporters don't always get the landscape right about our backyard.

That was the case April 22 when the New York Times reported on Arizona Sen. John McCain's ties to local developer Don Diamond. When readers asked why the story did not run in the Star, the answer was "Because the Star's reported it before." While that's technically true, it's not a complete portrait of the Star's reporting.

The Times' focus was that McCain has been overfriendly toward Diamond land deals in Arizona and California. (To read the Times' story go to www.nytimes.com.) I can't verify what Star coverage, if any, has appeared about California deals. The Star only archives locally produced stories and does not keep an index of each edition.

The Tucson land deals, which began as the Rocking K swap that expanded Saguaro National Monument, as it was called then, in exchange for Scottsdale acreage, are a different matter.

"I was here and covered it ad infinitum," says team leader Joe Burchell, who oversees the Star's government team and who's been a watchdog of our elected officials since 1980.

"People are looking at this from the perspective of John McCain the national figure and two-time presidential candidate. But at the time Rocking K was in full swing, he was still in his first term, elected in 1986 and one of the least senior members of the Senate. He did not have the level of influence he eventually developed,'' Burchell e-mailed.

"You won't find stories directly referencing Diamond and McCain relative to this land swap because it didn't happen the way the Times portrays it. McCain was a secondary participant who only got involved late in the game.

"The original rezoning request in 1989 was for 21,000 homes and four resorts on just under 5,000 acres. ... That was negotiated down to 11,000 homes, but there was still a huge concern because one of the mega-resorts with multiple golf courses and 2,000 homes was in a thumb area that intruded into Saguaro National Monument.

"At the behest of the Board of Supervisors, environmentalists and the Rincon Valley Coalition, Rocking K (Diamond) agreed to allow the monument to take over that thumb if Congress would approve the expansion and pay for the land. The prime sponsor of that congressional effort was Arizona Rep. Jim Kolbe, NOT John McCain. And the impetus came from the community, not Diamond.

"Kolbe was unable to get the expansion through Congress at that time. In 1991, Kolbe and U.S. Rep. Mo Udall re-introduced the expansion as co-sponsors, and McCain sponsored the same legislation in the Senate. The Times trumpets McCain was the sole Senate sponsor of the bill, never mentioning Arizona Sen. Dennis DeConcini recused himself for a conflict of interest, or that the entire Arizona delegation, Republican and Democrat, backed the House version of the same bill.

"That proposal was eventually approved, but Congress balked at providing the money so the land swap was inserted in lieu of cash. While there was a land swap and Diamond made out great — doesn't he always? — it didn't happen the way the Times implied, which is why there are no stories directly on that point.

"The Times makes much of the fact that the property Diamond got in Scottsdale is worth so much more than the property he gave up at Rocking K. What they ignore is, for purposes of the swap, the Rocking K land had to be valued as if it were 1,800 acres zoned for high-density housing and a resort, which it was.''

The Times reporting on the most recent land deals in 2003 and 2005 are more about Las Cienegas and Tumamoc, but are equally as flawed, Burchell said. "Although the Times made it look like McCain was pushing the unsuccessful 2003 deal, it never got far enough for him to push. The proposal by Diamond was withdrawn in the face of overwhelming local opposition. And while McCain did co-sponsor the scaled-back 2005 land swap legislation, as we reported, so did Kyl and Kolbe and Rep. Raúl Grijalva.''

● Contact Debbie Kornmiller weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 434-4080 or at advocate@azstarnet.com.