Is Jim Webb Ethical Enough To Be A Presidential Candidate?

I'm not a big fan of ex-Senator Jim Webb (pictured), who has expressed an interest in running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. He's a little too much of a "blue dog" for my taste. And after seeing the way he managed his PAC (Born Fighting PAC), I now question whether he is ethical enough to run for that office as a Democrat.

The PAC was created to help candidates who support economic fairness and would work toward insuring greater accountability in government, but it raises a question about his own accountability. The PAC only gave about 20% of the funds raised to those candidates, while paying out about 10% to Webb's wife and daughter.

Here's how the Business Insider describes it:

Records show Webb's committee essentially ceased political activities once he revealed his decision to leave Congress. However, the Born Fighting PAC continued to contribute to Webb's family long after it had stopped giving to the candidates and groups it was ostensibly established to support. 

Campaign finance reports show the committee has not given any money to political candidates or groups since the end of 2010. Yet the PAC has continued to take donations. Over $100,000 from the final balance in Webb's Senate campaign account, now closed, was transferred to the committee after he left office at the start of last year.

Most of the money Webb's wife and daughter received from the committee came after it had stopped giving money to politicians and political groups. 

Business Insider contacted Webb's staff about this story Monday afternoon and was asked for a list of specific questions. His staff has not yet responded with answers.

Records show the Born Fighting PAC has received $961,515.34 in contributions from individuals, politicians, progressive groups, businesses, unions, and Democratic Party organizations since it launched at the end of 2006. Of this money, $91,999.91 went to Webb's daughter, Amy Webb Hogan, and wife, Hong Le Webb. 

Webb Hogan began receiving money from her father's PAC in 2009, when she earned $2,000 for "website consulting services." In each year from 2010 through 2012 she received $12,000 for the same purpose. Last year, Webb Hogan was paid $14,500 from the committee. Of the money Webb Hogan was paid last year, the reports said $13,500 was for "administrative consulting services" and $1,000 was for "website services reimbursement."

This $1,000 went to Webb Hogan last year, even though, based on archived versions of the Born Fighting PAC site, it was not updated at all during this period apart from a two-sentence note thanking donors for their "past support."

So far in 2014, Webb Hogan, who has sometimes acted as her father's spokeswoman, has been paid $24,412.20. The final report, which covers the period from Nov. 24 through the end of the year, will not be filed until the beginning of 2015. All of the money Webb Hogan received from the committee this year was identified as being related to "administrative consulting services," apart from $329.46 that was labeled "website services reimbursement." 

Hong Le Webb was first paid by the Born Fighting PAC in 2008 when she received $253.37 for travel expenses. She did not receive any money from the committee again until this year, when, as of last month, she received $14,834.34. 

Most of the money that the committee paid to Hong Le Webb in 2014 — $13,800 — was listed in the reports as compensation for "website services." She also received nearly $700 for travel expenses, and $335 that was identified as "reimbursement" for a P.O. Box. However, none of the records show the Born Fighting PAC as having ever been based at a P.O. Box.

The money for web-related services that was paid to Webb Hogan and Hong Le constitutes the bulk of the payments they received from the Born Fighting PAC. It is not clear whether Hong Le, a lawyer, or Webb Hogan, a former real-estate agent, have any other professional experience designing or managing websites. . .

The latest Federal Election Commission report, which covers the period up to Nov. 24, shows the Born Fighting PAC has only $69,391.84 of the nearly $1 million it received left on hand. The committee spent about $900,000 from 2006 through last month. Of this, the records show that, over the years, just $200,027.04 of the money donated to the PAC went to political candidates and groups. 

In other words, Webb's committee used only about 20% of the money it spent to support its stated mission. 

This is relatively poor performance. One Democratic operative who spoke to Business Insider said leadership PACs "generally contribute 40% to 60% of the money they receive" to other candidates and groups. Born Fighting PAC seems to have had relatively high overhead even though the records show the committee did not have office space and barely employed paid staffers apart from Webb's wife and daughter.