I'm biased, but this, from CNN, satisfies me:
"Adding up numbers across several years for a sensational headline doesn't tell the story," [a Webb campaign] spokesperson said. "The activities of the PAC increased in 2014 when Jim Webb decided to re-enter the political discussions of our country."
The spokesperson added that the payments were "well within the law" and "much lower" than typical compensation.
Webb's daughter, Amy Webb Hogan, drew most of the disbursements, charging her father's PAC $24,000 in 2014 alone for "administrative consulting services," which included administering, managing and designing the PAC's website, Sen. Webb's personal site and creating the Webb2016 website….
Sen. Webb's wife, Hong Le Webb, made $13,800 in 2014 for "website services," which included "vetting design consultants, negotiating contracts and content management," Webb's spokesperson said. She also received more than $1,000 in travel reimbursements from the PAC.
Sen. Webb was also reimbursed $4,100 in travel expenses tied to an August 2014 trip to Iowa to campaign for candidates and meet prospective key supporters in the key primary state.
Based on this information, I'd wager the story will blow over. Webb's political operation is damn near invisible compared to the sprawling Clinton campaign, and as such it understandably depends on the labor of family members. I might have preferred outside consultants and web designers and the like to assist Webb in gearing up, but as his spokesperson contended, the cash available for such services was "much lower" than prevailing industry wages would have demanded. What else, then, was he to do?
Webb's comparative invisibility is, for now, his best friend. He's not yet big enough to make an inviting journalistic target. And by the time he is big enough (I hope), this will be an old story.