Three watchdog groups are planning to protest Rep. John Murtha’s (D-Pa.) fundraising event Wednesday at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington, Va.

Every year, the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Defense panel holds two fundraisers for his campaign: a dinner in February and a breakfast in the fall. Both events garner a wide range of participation from defense industry officials.

The groups called Wednesday’s event “a swanky fundraising dinner with pork-barrel-seeking defense lobbyists.”

“Americans are sick and tired of the wasteful and abusive spending of tax dollars, and … the time has come to shut down the Congressional favor factory,” the groups said in their release.

The event at the Ritz is planned in February to coincide with the anniversary of Murtha’s special election to Congress in February 1974. It also is timed before the primary in April. The breakfast in the fall is timed before the November election.

“Fundraising is part of every politician’s job,” said Matt Mazonkey, Murtha’s spokesman.

Murtha also participates or headlines fundraisers for other members of Congress.

For his fundraiser on Wednesday, Murtha is asking for $1,500 in individual donations and $5,000 in donations from political action committees.

A fundraiser held by a committee chairman with jurisdiction over a large portion of the budget usually attracts wide interest. Murtha is a strong supporter of the defense industry and the military, making decisions for funding both the immediate needs of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as future weapons systems.  His campaign as well as other members’ campaigns have benefited from that support.

Currently, Murtha’s fundraising coffer holds more than $1 million. Murtha has also contributed close to $132,000 to other candidates and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

In the 2008 defense appropriations bill, Murtha claimed most of the earmarks with $115 million worth of projects.

Meanwhile, Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.), Chairman Murtha’s counterpart on the committee, can claim almost $98.5 million in earmarks by himself and at least another $20 million with other lawmakers, according to an analysis by The Hill and independent watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS).

While earmark counts vary among watchdog groups, CAGW’s own count indicates that the earmarks in the 2008 defense bill decreased by 21 percent in number and 38 percent in value from last year.

Murtha has strongly defended the use of earmarks. Before the 2006 midterm elections, Murtha said, “… just because a member wants something that is beneficial to their district or to the country in many cases, I don’t define that as earmarked.”