Assemblywoman Lois Wolk (D-Davis) is paying more for her television commercials so that she can avoid a requirement that campaign commercials must feature the face of the candidate who pays for them, according to the campaign of her opponent, Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian.

Normally, campaign commercials are charged at a lesser rate than other types of commercials, a difference Aghazarian's campaign said can be 20 to 50 percent less, depending on the TV station.

But to qualify for the lesser rate, a candidate's face must appear in the commercial at some point.

In recent weeks, Wolk's state senate campaign has run a commercial in the 5th State Senate District that attacks Aghazarian (R-Stockton) for collecting full per diem payments for travel as a state legislator while living about 40 miles from Sacramento.

While the commercial notes it was paid for by Wolk's campaign, her face does not appear.

"Obviously, her campaign doesn't want to associate her with negative attack, cookie-cutter ads," said Kevin Spillane, a spokesman for Aghazarian's campaign. "She's obviously embarrassed about the ads."

He added that Wolk's campaign was likely spending thousands more for the ads just to avoid the requirement. "It's unheard of to me," he said.

Spillane noted that previous 5th District senators, including termed-out state Sen. Mike Machado (D-Linden), who Wolk and Aghazarian are vying to replace, have collected similar per diem payments.

While Wolk has said she doesn't collect a per diem, she does use other perks of a legislative position such as office expenses, Spillane said.

"She's more than hypocritical and misleading in her attack," he said.

Wolk's campaign has also begun running an ad similar to the one about Aghazarian that features Wolk talking about her work in the legislature. Her face and voice are featured in that commercial, which does not mention Aghazarian.

Wolk's campaign manager, Tom Higgins, said the charges from Aghazarian's camp illustrate Aghazarian's inability to answer why he took per diems while living near the capital.

"He's in an indefensible position, and this is the best he could come up with," Higgins said. "Our ad is fully legally compliant, and it's clearly a campaign commercial."

He added that Aghazarian's campaign justifying the per diem collection because other legislators have done so runs at odds with his campaign tagline of "independent leadership."

"What's independent about doing the same thing others did?" Higgins said.

ELSEWHERE on PolitickerCA.com:

• Aghazarian airs second ad calling for nonpartisan legislature
• Wolk launches TV ad over Aghazarian per diem collections