Obama Stimulus Job Count Under New Criticism

Fuzzy math or flagrant fudgery?

Bernie Synakowski works on the brakes of a new cleaner-burning bus paid for by the government's...

Bernie Synakowski works on the brakes of a new cleaner-burning bus paid for by the government's $7878 billion stimulus plan. The Obama administration has come under fire for its estimate that 640,000 jobs were created or saved by the plan. Now Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., is asking that a federal oversight panel certify the administration's estimate.

(Kevin Rivoli/AP Photo)

Following a series of reports across the country of what look like over-the-top over-estimates of jobs created or saved as a result of President Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus package, a senior Republican lawmaker has challenged the administration's accounting.

Ahead of a congressional hearing on the stimulus spending issue slated for next week, House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has drafted a letter to Earl Devaney, chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, which monitors stimulus spending. In his letter, Issa expresses concern that "grossly inaccurate" information has been fed to the public. Issa's letter questions whether the board's claim that an estimated 640,329 jobs were created or saved as a result of the massive spending measure is accurate.

According to a draft version of the Issa letter obtained by ABCNews.com, and which is not expected to be sent until Monday, Issa drops a stiff challenge on Devaney's doorstep. First, he asks whether he can certify that the number of jobs reported on the stimulus oversight board's Web site as created or saved is accurate and auditable, and whether Devaney, if he can't certify the numbers, would be willing to add a disclaimer to the site saying the numbers are not reliable.

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Read Rep. Darrell Issa's draft letter to the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board here.

A series of media reports have surfaced in the past week or so, uncovering examples of significant overcounting of stimulus-tied jobs in California, Massachusetts, Texas, Wisconsin, as well several states. For example:

The Boston Globe reviewed the 12,000-plus jobs claimed to have been created or saved by $4 billion in direct stimulus spending in Massachusetts. In one case, a state college reported having added 160 new work-study jobs tied to just $77,181 in stimulus funds. A spokesman for the school, Bridgewater State College, told the Globe that the actual number of jobs was "almost nothing."

The Globe described the Bay State's stimulus job figures as "wildly exaggerated."

A Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel review found a sanitation department in Douglas County, Wis., that admitted to a typo that resulted in an estimate of 100 jobs saved or created, when the actual number was five.

According to USA Today, the Texas recipient of a $26,174 roofing contract reported erroneously that 450 jobs were created or saved when, in fact, six were.