WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Congressman Mike Pompeo’s campaign is accusing his primary challenger of “cronyism” for taking a job after leaving Congress with a Colorado company to which he had funneled federal money.

But his opponent notes the federal funds were used to develop an airborne laser defense system that would have been built at the now shuttered Boeing’s defense plant in Wichita.

Former Congressman Todd Tiahrt on Wednesday defended the funding he got for the project while in Congress. He says Pompeo has no accomplishments of his own.

The dustup comes in a fight for the congressional seat in south-central Kansas. A key difference between the conservative Republican candidates is their philosophies about the appropriateness of bringing federal money to their home districts — even to create local jobs.