The latest news in the NYTimes article about John Sidney McBush isn't the worst example of his hypocritical career as a congressman and senator but it does make the point: a rich senator using his office and influence to help a rich constituent developer (who is a big money contributer and bundler) with smelly, questionable deals.

From the report about a wealthy developer's relationship with John McFlip-Flop:

"In Arizona, Mr. McCain has helped Mr. Diamond with matters as small as forwarding a complaint in a regulatory skirmish over the endangered pygmy owl, and as large as introducing legislation remapping public lands. In 1991 and 1994, Mr. McCain sponsored two laws sought by Mr. Diamond that resulted in providing him millions of dollars and thousands of acres in exchange for adding some of his properties to national parks. The Arizona senator co-sponsored a third similar bill now before the Senate.

"A spokeswoman for Mr. McCain, Jill Hazelbaker, said the senator, now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, 'had done nothing for Mr. Diamond that he would not do for any other Arizona citizen.' "

Yeah, right.  And pigs can fly. Mr. Diamond is one of the biggest landowners in Arizona, and owns pieces of the Diamondbacks and the Suns, a 12,000 acre estate, and four yachts.

"In California, the McCain aide’s assistance with the Army helped Mr. Diamond complete a purchase in 1999 that he soon turned over for a $20 million profit. And Mr. McCain’s letter of recommendation reinforced Mr. Diamond’s selling point about his McCain connections as he pursued — and won in 2005 — a potentially much more lucrative deal to develop a resort hotel and luxury housing.

"In Mr. Diamond’s other project at Fort Ord, the campaign initially said that the senator 'would not have issued' the letter vouching for Mr. Diamond 'if he knew at the time it would be used to favor any particular party in the course of a pending competition.' Later, the campaign described the letter as 'a character reference' and said it was included only at a 'pre-competition' stage in the selection process. The campaign also noted that two other members of the Arizona Congressional delegation provided similar letters.

The quid pro quo for McCain is access to other wealthy contributers' pocketbooks.  Money, money, money.

"More significantly, the developer has collected (or “bundled”) hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from others, and is now serving as a national co-chairman of the finance committee for Mr. McCain’s current presidential run. In the spring of 2000, when Mr. Diamond was in the thick of the negotiations for his California deals, he traveled with Mr. McCain through the early Republican primaries. Mr. Diamond was on the campaign trail again this year.

"Mr. McCain has been willing, though, to help sponsor bills authorizing federal land exchanges that Mr. Diamond sought...

And Mr. Diamond's land swaps for public land with McCain's help were not exactly fair to the American people.

"Such exchanges can serve a public interest by expanding parks or wilderness areas. But many environmentalists and other analysts have also concluded that such trades almost invariably give private developers a profitable bargain at public expense.

"A study in 2000 by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office cited 'inherent difficulties' and 'fundamental inefficiencies' in such exchanges and urged Congress to discontinue them."

However, Diamond had already made his big money and screwed the public with McCain's assistance.

"The first two swaps involving Mr. Diamond that Mr. McCain helped sponsor were initially supported by local governments and conservationists, and Mr. Diamond argues the land would be worth far more today. But many Arizona conservationists later protested that the federal deals gave away too much."

Sounds like local governments and conservationists didn't read the fine print and got snookered by McCain and Diamond.

“ 'Don Diamond has done very well through these land exchanges,' said Sandy Bahr, director of the Arizona chapter of the Sierra Club. 'It is the public that got shortchanged.'

"Regarding another development deal, 'Mr. McCain rejected that request as 'inappropriate at that time' because he was poised to regain the chairmanship of the Senate Commerce Committee, Mr. Diamond said in the deposition. 'John said that he would rather not get involved. He didn’t think that it was right.'

So, McBush stepped back on this one (maybe he smelled a lawsuit against Diamond in the offing). But McGreedy certainly has cashed in on his other assistance including sponsoring legislation on Mr. Diamond's behalf, receiving big campaign contributions and significant bundling donations from the wealthy real estate developer.

John Sidney McSame: the rich senator helping the rich get richer and the hell with the common good.   McBush the hypocrite.