Matthew Berry, congressional candidate: “Jim Moran has received over $80,000 this year in campaign contributions from executives, PACs, and lobbyists of companies for which he has requested earmarks totaling over $50 million. Such donations represent over 20 percent of the money raised this year by Moran.”

Virginia Fact-Check says: True

Why: Berry, who formerly directed lawyers at the Federal Communications Commission, launched last week his race against Democratic Rep. Jim Moran. The Republican is pushing hard several allegations against Moran, including one that Moran has taken a significant slice of his campaign funds from those he’s favored with earmarks.

An earmark is funding for a specific project or tax exemption, taken from existing spending. Legislators make earmark requests, which may then be approved by Congress as part of a larger spending bill.

Berry is correct that Moran received more than $80,000 from executives, political action committees and lobbyists of companies to whom he’s directed earmarks. In total, Moran has received $82,700 total from these committees and individuals, according to Federal Election Commission reports. MobilVox, Inc. tops the list of donors, contributing $8,300 to Moran and receiving a $2 million earmark.

Berry is also correct that Moran requested earmarks for donors totaling more than $50 million. The largest earmark requests were $3 million each, requested for EM Solutions, Inc., Argon ST and DDL Omni Engineering. All of the earmarks given to donors of Moran were defense appropriations.

Finally, it’s true that more than 20 percent of Moran’s $396,952 in donations last year came from these committees and individuals.

Berry also notes on his Web site that Moran was under investigation last fall for allegedly taking part in a scheme to channel earmarks to a high-donating lobbying firm, the PMA Group. But Berry doesn’t acknowledge that the board of the Office of Congressional Ethics dismissed the charges against Moran in December.

Moran requested more earmarks last year than any other Virginia congressman and requested the 11^th-highest number of earmarks of any representative, according to OpenSecrets.org. Moran sponsored or co-sponsored 86 earmarks totaling $128,779,928.

Berry is contested by two of his party members for the Republican nomination, while one Democrat is challenging Moran.