CALAIS – The spaghetti sauce battle has been spiced up now that an Old Town man has claimed that tribal state Rep. Fred Moore is full of bologna and not pasta when he misstated the governor’s fund-raising efforts.

The truth may be in the flavoring.

Over the weekend, Moore claimed that when Gov. John Baldacci ran for the 2nd Congressional District he used his spaghetti feeds to help fund his campaign. “I hauled his spaghetti sauce from Milbridge to Eastport on more than one occasion,” he said last week. “The only thing he has brought to Washington County is spaghetti sauce, and he left with money, and he really didn’t give us anything.”

Ed Boucher, of Old Town and a friend of Gov. John Baldacci, said Monday the governor never benefited financially from spaghetti dinners he held around the state. He said all proceeds went to charity.

But Moore said Monday he was sticking to his story. He said the governor brought spaghetti and left with money.

“The truth maybe sticking to the bottom of the caldron,” the governor’s press secretary, Lynn Kippax, said Monday.

Kippax said he spoke with the pot stirrer himself. “I asked him how much money from the spaghetti suppers that you held in Washington County went to your campaign and the governor said, ‘quote, none of it,’ close quote,'” Kippax said. “It’s spaghetti over the dam.”

The issue arose last week when the tribal representative charged that the governor was not interested in a racino Down East nor in economic development efforts even though he raised money for his campaign in the county.

The governor has threatened to veto legislation authorizing a statewide referendum on the proposed tribal commercial track and casino in Washington County.

On Monday Moore maintained the governor used the spaghetti suppers to raise campaign funds. “I am not implying that he came and took the money from the proceeds from a plate of spaghetti. But he did put on spaghetti dinners and he left with money,” he said. “As he’s holding the spaghetti dinner I was there and I put money in the plate and it wasn’t for a charity. It was for the Democratic fund-raiser, more than once.”

Moore said he was not surprised someone came to the governor’s defense. “He (Boucher] can come out in the governor’s defense all he wants, but spaghetti is spaghetti no matter how you look at it,” he said.

Boucher said that for the past 12 years he has been involved with the governor’s spaghetti dinners, often driving the sauce to the various towns.

He said that the congressman and later the governor held several spaghetti dinner fundraisers. In one instance, the money went to a Brewer man suffering from cancer.

The governor’s dinners also have raised money for the Boys and Girls Club, hospice and numerous other charitable groups.

Boucher recalled one interesting fund-raising event in Lee that involved sauce, pasta and a pilot. “The kids [in the band] wanted to go on a field trip,” he said. “We ran out of spaghetti.”

A pilot stepped forward and volunteered to fly from Lee to Bangor to pick up more sauce and pasta. That dinner fed more than 900 people.

Baldacci’s friend said that if the governor had used money from any of the spaghetti feeds he would have had to disclose that in his campaign financial statements. “If he received money and he didn’t report it as part of his financial campaign that would be a code of ethics violation,” he said.