AUGUSTA – The Jim Libby for Governor campaign was $85,000 richer Tuesday as the result of campaign contributions made to his GOP primary rival, Peter Cianchette of South Portland.

According to campaign finance information due Tuesday at the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, Cianchette, a privately funded candidate, has raised $361,819.65 to date. As a certified publicly funded candidate under the Maine Clean Elections Act, Libby was authorized last week to spend $104,713 in public funds plus another $124,000 to match contributions raised at that time by Cianchette.

The new figures reported Tuesday by Cianchette triggered the last distribution of additional public funds available to Libby in the GOP primary contest. With six weeks left to go before the election, Cianchette reported having $101,022.31 in cash on hand. Libby now has $314,139 exclusively because of the efforts of his opponent.

“It’s pretty nice and it’s a good feeling,” said the Buxton educator when he received his funding check from the ethics commission Tuesday.

Although Cianchette is now free to raise as much as he chooses in private funds without fear of any additional public distributions to Libby, it remains to be seen how much more the candidate will need to spend in order to feel confident of a victory on June 11. Cianchette has already spent $260,797.34 on his gubernatorial bid, including $100,000 on television ads.

“If he raises more, good for him and he has our congratulations,” Libby said. “We’ve got enough to run our campaign.”

Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Baldacci of Bangor remained the leading fund-raiser in the gubernatorial contest. The 2nd District congressman, who has no primary opponent, has collected private contributions of about $630,000 to date and reported $339,000 in cash on hand.

Other gubernatorial candidates filing reports with the commission Tuesday included independents Phillip Morris Napier of Portland and David Flanagan of Manchester. There is no primary election for independent candidates.

Flanagan, a former top aide to Gov. Joseph Brennan and the retired chief of the Central Maine Power Co., reported $31,502 in contributions from Mainers. The contributions included nearly $320,000 in personal loans made by the candidate and his wife to the Flanagan for Governor campaign. Flanagan reported $51,433 in available cash on hand.

In a press statement Tuesday afternoon, Flanagan’s staff preferred to emphasize that the private contributions made to the candidate reflected voter support for his campaign.

“This report underscores David’s commitment to more jobs, lower taxes and affordable health care for the people of Maine,” said David Nitchman, Flanagan’s communications director.

Napier, who described himself on his campaign finance report as “The People’s Hero,” has raised $2,810.05 to date. According to his report, the Napier campaign had no cash on hand and, in fact, owed itself $69.71.

Jonathan Carter, the Green Independent Party gubernatorial candidate from Lexington Township, is awaiting today’s decision by the ethics commission to determine whether he will be certified as a publicly financed candidate under the Maine Clean Elections Act. If he is certified, he will be eligible to receive a little more than $900,000 in taxpayer-provided funds.

A handful of remaining independent gubernatorial candidates who have stated they intend to run as publicly funded candidates have until June 2 to qualify under the Maine Clean Elections law.