McCain helped businessman buy Fort Ord land for a fraction of its market value

JULIA REYNOLDS - MediaNews
Article Launched: 10/12/2008 01:32:02 AM PDT

MONTEREY -- An Arizona businessman, with help from Sen. John McCain's office, paid the federal government a mere fraction of the market value when he bought a Fort Ord land parcel in 1999, an Army appraisal obtained by The Monterey Herald shows.

Donald R. Diamond, an 80-year-old real estate developer, lobbyist and top fundraiser for McCain's presidential campaign, bought the land for $250,000, though it was valued at $7.2 million, according to Pentagon appraisals made three years before the sale.

He held on to the parcel for a little more than two years before selling it and the buildings on it for an estimated profit of more than $18 million.

When negotiating with the Army over the no-bid sale, Diamond had more than one advantage on other potential buyers. He held a lease on the land that would have made it difficult for the Army to find another buyer. When Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, later criticized the Army for "giving away" Fort Ord land during the 1990s, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army Paul "PJ" Johnson said, "That was a very complicated realignment and closure at Ford Ord." Johnson retired later that month.

But it was McCain's office, as reported earlier this year by The New York Times and The Monterey Herald, that Diamond credited with helping smooth out problems he encountered. At the time, McCain served on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The appraisal documents were obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request. Diamond and McCain's Senate office both declined to comment.

The Fort Ord property in question is home to the SunBay apartments and condominiums -- an enterprise whose history dates to the 1980s savings and loan crisis.


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