LEWISTON – Republican gubernatorial candidate Chandler Woodcock was forced into crisis management mode Wednesday after a Portland TV station revealed that he had a history of tax troubles dating back to 1997.

WMTW-TV Channel 8 reported during its 6 p.m. newscast and on the station’s Web site that 10 liens had been placed on Woodcock’s Farmington home during the past nine years.

The difficulties began in 1997 and continued until 2005, when the Maine Revenue Service placed a lien on his house for an unpaid income tax bill from 2003.

According to public records available online at the Franklin County Registry of Deeds, Woodcock repeatedly had difficulty paying for his municipal sewer service.

The total amount that he owed to Farmington was $2,686, WMTW reported. The largest bill was for $900; the smallest was for $49.

The first lien was placed on his house in July 1997 by the town. Eight other similar liens followed. The town records also show that Woodcock paid each of the bills within a few months after the liens, which were then discharged.

In 2005, the Maine Revenue Service placed a lien on his house for a $300 unpaid tax bill from 2003.

All the liens have been discharged, public records show.

“My wife and I had a little bit of a struggle getting our four children through college,” Woodcock told the Sun Journal late Wednesday night. “And at the same time, we were helping to care for an elderly relative.”

Those expenses put the Woodcocks behind on some of their bills, he said. “My wife and I have worked very hard for what we’ve had,” said Woodcock, who is serving his third term in the state Senate. “Certainly, my wife and I were in a situation like a lot of people in the state. … It was a matter of not being able to meet all of our obligations.”

Woodcock was a high school basketball coach and teacher for 27 years. He served five years as a Farmington selectmen, one year as chairman. First elected to the Senate in 2000, he was an assistant Senate Republican leader in his second term.

Woodcock has sharply criticized Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, particularly on fiscal matters. He has attacked Baldacci for a proposed budget that relied on borrowing, on unpaid obligations to Maine’s hospitals and on the state’s high tax burden.

“It will be our job to portray our agenda as focusing on economics, on health insurance, on taxes,” Woodcock told the Sun Journal during an editorial board visit in September. “And that will be the question of this gubernatorial election.”

The focus Wednesday was on taxes, but not the those Woodcock was hoping to talk about.

Woodcock said that the issue has been public all along and that it didn’t come up during his campaigns for the state Senate.

Chris Jackson, Woodcock’s campaign manager, forcefully questioned the timing of the information’s release.

“It’s been a matter of public record since it happened,” Jackson said. “Basically, in my view, the timing is more than ironic.”

While not pointing fingers at any particular campaign, Jackson said that it’s likely the release of the information was a dirty trick by someone trying to influence the election and take attention away from the state’s struggling economy.

“I don’t even think it’s an issue,” Jackson said. “It’s another attempt by people to distract voters.”

“No one associated with our campaign had anything to do with this information being disclosed,” Jesse Connolly, Baldacci’s campaign manager, told the Sun Journal on Wednesday night. “This campaign should be about the issues.”

Connolly would not comment further on the matter.

A spokesman for the Maine Democrat Party, which has been heavily involved in the gubernatorial race by running commercials supporting Baldacci and opposing Woodcock, said the party was reserving comment until more details come to light.

Rep. Barbara Merrill, an independent running for governor, said she regretted such a story gets reported so close to an election and said it’s the kind of thing that keeps a lot of good people from running for public office. She had no comment on Woodcock’s personal financial affairs.

A spokesman for Green Independent gubernatorial candidate Pat LaMarche could not be reached Wednesday night.

The WMTW reported first seeing the information on the online comment area of a newspaper.

On Oct. 14 and Oct. 25, readers posted specific information on the Web site of the Kennebec Journal in Augusta about the liens on Woodcock’s house.

The first post was made in a comment attached to a letter to the editor supporting Woodcock. The Oct. 14 post is attributed to “Martin Bulger of New Sharon.” There is no telephone book listing for a Martin Bulger in New Sharon and no listing in directory assistance.

The second post was made by “Rick of Farmington” on Oct. 25.

Both posts included information about the liens and the Web address for the Franklin County Registry of Deeds.

Remaining stoic, Woodcock said the public disclosure of the information has been difficult on his wife and mother.

“I take it for what it is,” Woodcock told the Sun Journal. “It’s politics. It’s not the politics that I like or practice, but it’s politics.”