Gov. Ed Rendell has made another exception to the hiring freeze he imposed last fall, offering a $102,000-a-year state job to ex-state Rep. Mike Veon's lobbying partner, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Her name is Colleen Kopp and she is Rendell's new senior deputy secretary for legislative affairs.

Veon, the former No. 2 ranking Democrat in the state House, is right smack in the middle of two of the biggest corruption scandals in Pennsylvania political history.

He is facing charges involving the Bonusgate scheme in which millions of dollars were awarded to state workers for allegedly conducting political work on taxpayers' time. Veon has also been charged in a scheme involving misuse of state money to fund a nonprofit organization that received $10 million from the state.

Kopp has not been charged with any wrongdoing. She does, however, have a long association with Veon, including stints as executive director and chief of staff of Veon's legislative staff.

Reporters Brad Bumsted and Debra Erdley said Kopp is the third prominent Democrat hired by Rendell since the hiring freeze was imposed.

From their article:

Rendell hired Colleen Kopp last week, the third high-profile exception he has made to the freeze he implemented in September. He hired defeated Democratic Rep. Dan Surra of Clearfield County for $95,000 a year to oversee a nature-tourism project, and last week agreed to pay Ken Snyder of Philadelphia $100,000 to tout the federal stimulus package. Snyder, a public relations man who consulted for Rendell in 2003, represented a nonprofit pillaged by convicted former Sen. Vincent Fumo.

Read the full story at the newspaper's Web site.