Ohio's Republican members of Congress wrote a letter to Gov. Ted Strickland last week encouraging him to create an independent, bipartisan board to monitor the state's use of federal stimulus money, but the governor called the letter "a political document."

The letter, signed by House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester, and seven other Republicans, pointed to recent news reports that the reporting of stimulus awards mistakenly located funding for some entities in nonexistent congressional districts.

Federal officials said the database errors were corrected and no actual funding was affected, but the GOP delegation said the mistakes raise doubt about the transparency of the process.

"It is imperative that Ohioans know federal 'stimulus' dollars are being spent effectively, and that government efforts to track those dollars are accurate and credible," the GOP letter said.

Asked about the letter, Strickland said the stimulus spending has been critical to Ohio and has been the most open and transparent of any federal program he's seen.

"These are essential, vital resources; they are being spent in an open, honest, transparent manner; and, quite frankly, the letter that I received from some of the Republican representatives from Ohio I think was a political document rather than an honest inquiry into how resources are being used," the governor said.

mniquette@dispatch.com