Charles Rangel - Payment to son to build website

Summary

In 2008, Politico broke the story that between 2004 and 2007, Congressman Rangel paid his son just under $80,000 to build and maintain a website for his re-election campaigns.  The site built was very simple in design and filled with errors, leading one web expert to set the actual cost of design for the website at roughly $100.

Timeline of payments

Prior to 2004, Congressman Rangel used a company called Networked Politics.  Midway through 2004, Congressman Rangel hired Edisonian Innovative Works, a company that his son, Steven Rangel, runs out of his house.  Congressman Rangels office claims that in 2007 they decided to scale back their web presence and hired NGP Software to run their online operations.  Rangel spokesman Emile Milne said the following:

In 2007, the Rangel political organization made the decision to go with a scaled-back Web presence and hired NGP software to run the site.

Amount of payments

According to Federal Election Commission records, Rangel’s leadership PAC and congressional committee paid $79,560 for the re-election website over 30 months between 2004 and 2007, with $57,500 of that coming in a two year period between 2005 and 2007.  Congressman Rangel's spokesman, Emile Milne said the following about the payments:

Steven Rangel's firm was paid roughly $2,500 on a monthly basis — less than the firm that had previously managed Congressman Rangel's Web and online operation (Network Politics) — and the firm's fees included money for Web advertising designed to promote traffic to the website.

Emile Milne also said that Steven Rangel earned less than Networked to perform essentially the same work. Networked Politics received $41,000 from Rep. Rangel's political action committee and campaign committee, while the junior Rangel received $19,560 for about a half-year of work.

Payments to Steven Rangel for working on the website stopped when he was hired by the House Energy and Commerce Committee as an $80,000-per-year “investigative counsel,” according to records.

Relative amount of payments

The sum paid to Rangel’s son was the most paid for websites by any House member during the 2004-2006 election period, according to a news story written by Politico which cited an analysis of Federal Election Commission filings provided by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. 

Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio) and since-ousted Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) were distant runners-up, shelling out $44,000 and $30,000 for their websites, respectively, during the 2006 cycle.

Both Regula and Shays may have needed the exposure to fend off serious challengers. Rangel, a Harlem Democrat and dean of his state’s House delegation, hasn’t faced serious competition in years and retained his seat with 94 percent of the vote in 2006.

The vast majority of House candidates who set up campaign sites in 2006 spent far less.  200 of those members spent less than $10,000 each for websites, according to the CRP analysis. The average House member buying Internet services spent $4,541 on campaign Web sites during that period

Perceived value of websites

There is nothing illegal about paying family members to perform legitimate campaign work.  The controversy surrounding Steven Rangel's website work was that website created was of very low quality and content for the amount of money paid.  Politico quoted a website expert who quoted the value of work done on the website at roughly $100, another expert placed the perceived value at roughly $900.  Meredith McGehee of the Campaign Legal Center - a nonprofit organization that monitors compliance with electoral law - stated the following:

This is probably legal but is definitely wrong. You're in a situation where you were given money for a campaign and it's being used to enrich family members,” she added. “The return argument is they're performing legitimate services. The question that needs to be asked in this case is: Was this a legitimate payment or was this a payoff?

The site “is a one pager with a third party site taking donations,” said Jamie Newell of 7AZ Web Design, a company that creates sites for a wide array of businesses in Washington. “For something of that standard, I would not pay more than $100.”

In a short bio written on his now-defunct personal Web page, Steven Rangel stated that he was frustrated with designers and decided to learn the ropes himself — and write an e-book on how to make money on the Internet.

I… spent a lot of money trying to get third-party vendors to develop to my standards. Fed up with their performance, I decided to teach my self.

References

[1] Website: The Wall Street Journal Article: Rangel Paid Son $57,500 for Web Work Author: CHRISTOPHER COOPER and JOHN R. WILKE Accessed on: 05/01/2010

[2] Website: Politico Article: Rangel's son got campaign cash Author: LUKE ROSIAK & GLENN THRUSH Accessed on: 05/01/2010

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