CINCINNATI (AP) — The state never listed on its Web site the job awarded to a Democratic Cincinnati councilwoman the day she withdrew from a House primary, a newspaper reported Sunday.



Public records reviewed by The Cincinnati Enquirer and other reporting show that Laketa Cole was the only applicant and that she was hired on March 5, the day she dropped out of the race against Alicia Reece.



Reece is a former Cincinnati vice mayor appointed this month to finish the term of a Democrat who took a municipal judgeship. Democratic officials had wanted to avoid a May primary in Reece's bid to keep the seat.



Cole, 36, was hired for the $78,000-a-year job of chief of reliability and service analysis for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, with a June start date. She earns about $61,000 on council.



The administration of Gov. Ted Strickland said Cole, a black woman, was hired to add diversity to the staff. Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said the governor's office recommended her but did not order PUCO to hire her.



"It is yet another example of Ted Strickland putting politics over the real needs of the state, and it is why we're in the mess we're in," said Rob Nichols, spokesman for Republican John Kasich, who is trying to unseat Strickland in the Nov. 2 general election.



But Hamilton County Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou said local politicians often get state jobs.