CARSON CITY, Nev. -- A woman who claimed she was improperly fired by Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons for leaking information about his text messages has been hired by the controller's office to oversee stimulus reporting.

Controller Kim Wallin announced the hiring of Mary Keating on Monday. Keating has a federal lawsuit pending against the governor and other administration officials.

The suit stems from a 2008 scandal involving more than 800 text messages Gibbons sent to a female friend from his state-issued cell phone.

Keating, a 25-year state employee, was fired in May 2008 after news of the text messages became public. She claimed Gibbons and state budget director Andrew Clinger had her removed because he thought she leaked details of the text conversations.

Gibbons reimbursed the state $130 for the phone charges and apologized.

The first-term Republican governor in August took control through an executive order of $2.2 billion in federal stimulus money the state is to receive and hired Charles Harvey to oversee Nevada reporting.

The hiring was made after Democrats on the state Legislature's Interim Finance Committee approved the position at a smaller salary and put it under the direction of Wallin, who is a Democrat.