PITTSBURGH — State Sen. Jane Orie’s former top aide says the lawmaker tried to cover up campaign work being done by her taxpayer-funded staff after learning an intern had reported the activity to authorities.

Orie and her sister, Janine Orie, are charged with using the Republican senator’s staff to benefit the 2009 judicial campaign of a third sister, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin.

Orie’s former chief of staff Jamie Pavlot testified this morning that when the senator found out about the intern’s complaint, Orie instructed Pavlot to put a sign on an upstairs office to make it appear that location was Melvin’s campaign headquarters.

Other witnesses have previously said there was no campaign office at that location.