Department of Administration Deputy Secretary Dan Schooff and Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee today tangled over the impact of stimulus funds, with Republicans saying reports on jobs created by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are overblown.

Rep. Phil Montgomery, R-Ashwaubenon, disputed Schooff's accounting of how many of the 8,284 jobs reportedly created by the stimulus are private jobs. Schooff estimated that roughly half of those jobs were private sector in the energy and road construction fields, but he didn't have the exact breakdown with him today.

"I thought since you were coming to testify on this you would have brought those," said Montgomery, who said about 6,000 of the jobs created are in the public sector.

Rep. Robin Vos, R-Caledonia, said the federal government is "spending more money on ACORN" than on job creation.

Schooff said the next quarterly report on the state stimulus spending, which comes out in January, will have updated data.

Republicans also attacked the DOA and Office of Recovery and Reinvestment for inaccuracies in the reporting of job creation due to stimulus funds. But Schooff said those errors occurred on the federal level, and have been corrected by the feds.

Rep. Pedro Colon, D-Milwaukee, said from a Milwaukee perspective the stimulus has been successful.

"We've done very well," he said.

Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, said she would like more transparency and detailed information so she could tell her constituents what exactly the stimulus has done.

"What's been spent, how it's being spent. What difference is it making in the state of Wisconsin," Darling said.

"That seems very reasonable," Schooff said.

Executives from the state construction industry told JFC members today that the federal recovery act will save or create 54,000 jobs.

"It's nice to end a tough year with some hopeful news about jobs and economic recovery," said Madison Dem Rep. Mark Pocan, co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, in a press release. "The work the Wisconsin legislature has done this year on jobs is accomplishing its goals is saving and creating jobs."

-- By Greg Bump