AUGUSTA – A Republican state Senate candidate’s campaign ad that cites a Democratic rival’s past support for higher legislative pay fails to mention that the GOP candidate herself recommended higher salaries for state lawmakers while serving on a bipartisan panel that studied the issue.

It also accuses the Democrat, a former lawmaker, of having “voted himself” a pay hike far higher than lawmakers actually received.

“The point is … that the ad … is factually accurate,” Republican Senate hopeful Sally Vamvakias of Falmouth said Saturday when asked about the omission. “That’s the main point.”

Vamvakias, competing with Democrat Michael Brennan of Portland and three others to fill a District 27 vacancy, served on the State Compensation Commission that issued a report on April 15, 1999, recommending that legislative pay be raised from $10,500 and $7,500 for the two years of a House or Senate term to $15,750 and $11,250.

“The State Compensation Commission is concerned that these relatively low salaries may threaten the continued participation of the highly qualified and dedicated legislators that the state now enjoys because the financial sacrifices may be too great,” the 1999 report said.

In the aftermath of the commission’s recommendation, legislative salaries were raised by less than $1,000 and were linked to regular inflation adjustments.

It was the first increase in legislative salaries since 1990. Brennan’s first full year in the Legislature was in 1993.

The Vamvakias ad asserts that Brennan “voted himself a 20 percent pay increase.”

Vamvakias said Saturday the ad was run in response to campaign mailings by Brennan that failed to detail “the complete story” of his previous four terms in the House of Representatives.

“All that I’ve done has been a response to the Democratic Party,” Vamvakias said. “I have never taken the initiative.”

Brennan maintained the ad was inaccurate in saying he had voted himself any pay increase, “and that clearly was not the case.”

Citing a constitutional provision governing compensation for lawmakers, Brennan said, “one legislature couldn’t give itself a pay increase. You can only give it to future legislatures.”

According to former Democratic legislator Barry Hobbins of Saco, another member of the compensation commission that issued the April 1999 report, the panel was unanimous in recommending its proposed pay hike.

Currently, state law sets legislative salaries at close to $19,000 for each two-year session, substantially less than the amount recommended by the commission.