There is no doubt that Anthony D. Weiner wants to be mayor of New York. And there is no doubt, to that end, that he has seen an opening to wound a rival: criticizing Christine C. Quinn and the City Council he once was a member of for doling out money to favored groups in their districts.

“We should get rid of earmarks altogether, get rid of these member items altogether,” Mr. Weiner said last week, saying such a move would “restore public confidence” in government.

Of course, as a congressman, Mr. Weiner has his own earmarked funds to spread around his district — and he has shown a willingness to do so.

In recent years, Mr. Weiner has sponsored at least 40 earmarks, including appropriations of roughly $235,000 to fight beach erosion in the Rockaways and $3.7 million to restore a salt marsh in Brooklyn. The congressman has also directed nearly $450,000 to Agudath Israel, a national Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization that plays a significant role in city elections.

The total amount of money Mr. Weiner has secured is difficult to tally because until a rule change last year, members were not required to attach their names to such line items. But for this fiscal year alone, Mr. Weiner, a Democrat who represents parts of Brooklyn and Queens, has delivered about $8.6 million in federal funds for 15 projects in his district. One of them was a multimillion-dollar initiative that landed on a watchdog group’s list of suspect government spending.

In an interview, Mr. Weiner defended his use of earmarks, saying that he would continue seeking such funds for his constituents as long as the practice continued in Congress. He said that while he would support abolishing Congressional earmarks if the right legislation were proposed, he believed the City Council system of earmarking was more urgently in need of fixing.

“I am not going to lay down arms,” he said, referring to his plan to continue seeking earmarks in Congress. “I am going to fight for New York City.”

Mr. Weiner took a stand against earmarks in response to revelations that New York City Council members were steering millions of dollars in discretionary spending to phantom organizations and to groups connected with their relatives and associates. He has won praise for that position, which puts him at odds with Ms. Quinn, the Council speaker, who is potentially one of his rivals in the 2009 mayoral contest. He criticized a proposal Ms. Quinn issued requiring all nonprofit groups receiving earmarks over a certain amount to be screened by the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services before the money is issued.

Asked about the Quinn proposal during a television interview on WNBC/Channel 4’s News Forum on May 11, he said it did not go far enough.

“I think we’re at the point that we should just say, ‘Look. The citizens of New York have lost so much confidence in this process that we should do away with these earmarks that are distributed this way,’ ” he said. “We should figure out a way to provide funding of services to those organizations through some other mechanism.”

Ms. Quinn’s office declined to comment.

Mr. Weiner’s own use of earmarks shows that the debate over such spending is not as cut and dried as he suggests. Critics have said that Congressional earmarks are awarded without competitive bidding and public hearings. Still, they pay for projects that are popular with lawmakers and often helpful to constituents.

Through the years, Mr. Weiner has spread money around New York for a variety of projects of his choosing, from $5.75 million to remove graffiti to $15 million for ferry service from the Rockaways to Manhattan.

Mr. Weiner’s latest projects were included in a sea of similar appropriations in the federal budget for fiscal year 2008, which ends Sept. 30. The budget contained 11,780 Congressional earmarks worth $18.3 billion, according to an analysis by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Congressional watchdog group.

Many of the 15 earmarks that Mr. Weiner secured in that budget included projects similar to those that council members have financed.

There is, for example, nearly $170,000 he got to help construct rooftop performance space at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and nearly $200,000 to finance a center for new immigrants at Kingsborough Community College.

Mr. Weiner also directed money to projects and programs run by a variety of Jewish groups, whose members make up part of his political base. He secured nearly $100,000 for a program at the Sephardic Community Center in Brooklyn that seeks to help “at-risk immigrant youth successfully acculturate” into American society; nearly $50,000 for an after-school program at the Prospect Park Yeshiva in Brooklyn; and $282,000 for a counseling program for small business at the Sephardic Angel Fund in Brooklyn.

Perhaps more significant, he obtained $450,000 for the Fresh Start Program for Agudath Israel, a major Orthodox Jewish organization. The program is intended to provide job training and counseling to women who are recovering addicts or victims of domestic violence.

Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic consultant in New York, said that having the support of the leaders of Agudath Israel could prove important in a citywide election, given that they often instruct members to get behind a particular candidate.

“Rabbinical approval of certain candidates can help deliver blocs of votes,” he said. “Having Agudath Israel as a friend in New York City politics is a very good thing.”

Mr. Weiner, who has been in Congress for five terms, said that the group had never raised money for him or endorsed him for public office. But he did note that he had a close working relationship with its leaders.

“They are helpful when I need to communicate with their members,” he said, adding that he consults with the group’s leaders when considering legislation that might affect their community.

The project sponsored by Mr. Weiner that drew criticism was a $4.8 million item slipped into a military spending bill to make improvements at the Gateway National Recreation Area’s Ryan Visitor Center in Queens. Citizens Against Government Waste placed it in its annual Pig Book.

Thomas A. Schatz, the group’s president, said the project had no business being in a military spending bill. “I grew up on Long Island, and I know what the Gateway National Recreation Area looks like,” he said. “And it is not on the front line of the defense of the United States.”

If Mr. Weiner is concerned about such criticism, it doesn’t show. Last year, he appeared at a news conference at the park to highlight his having secured about $66 million overall to make improvements at the center.

Talking to reporters, he described the park as “one of New York City’s best-kept secrets.” He also confided that when he seeks financing for it, he often has to explain to other representatives that it is a national park.

“Sometimes people say, ‘Huh, I haven’t heard of that one,’ ” said Mr. Weiner, according to a story published in The Wave, a local newspaper in the Rockaways.