CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's spokeswoman took to social media earlier this week and alleged that former deputy attorney general Fran Hughes had received a 17 percent pay hike last year.

"Nice raise, Fran," wrote Morrisey spokeswoman Beth Ryan on her Twitter account. "Makes me wonder how many other state employees got a 17% pay raise that year. How convenient it happened right before she was retiring."

But Hughes, who was the top aide to former attorney general Darrell McGraw, didn't receive a 17 percent pay hike last year, according to state payroll records.

Ryan had looked at Hughes' total compensation for the past year -- information recently made available on the State Auditor's website.

Hughes' total compensation of $174,728 included a $25,272 lump sum payment at the end of the year for accrued unused annual leave.

Ryan apologized for the mistake Thursday. She deleted the tweets about Hughes' salary after the Gazette asked Ryan about the posts.

"I was wrong," she said. "I feel bad. I didn't do my research and fact-check, and I shouldn't have been snarky."

Ryan acknowledged she tweeted about Hughes from her attorney general's office computer Monday. But she said she was eating lunch at the time, so she wasn't technically on state time.

Ryan used her personal Twitter account to criticize Hughes. The account identifies her as "communications director for the West Virginia Attorney General's Office." Her account profile also says, "Proud to be a West Virginian by choice. Views expressed are my own."

Hughes said she didn't understand why one of Morrisey's aides would attack her and spread false information.

"I didn't get a 17 percent salary increase," said Hughes, former managing deputy attorney general and spokeswoman for McGraw. "That's absolutely a falsehood. That's not true."

In her series of tweets about Hughes, Ryan also compared Hughes' pay to that of Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, whose $150,000 salary is set in state code.

West Virginia Republican operatives quickly re-tweeted Ryan's false statements about Hughes.

Hughes said Morrisey and his supporters should stop spending so much time criticizing McGraw. In recent weeks, Morrisey has alleged that McGraw left the attorney general's office in shambles.

"Those people are obsessed with me and attacking us," said Hughes, who has started a private law practice. "They won the election. Why won't they turn their attention to what they should be doing, and that's providing legal representation for state agencies?"