By Marie Horrigan, CQ Staff

Here’s the latest installment in the GOP race to hold New York’s 13th Congressional District seat: Staten Island Republicans have filed to replace deceased candidate Frank Powers with former state Rep. Robert Straniere as their designated candidate.

Attorney Straniere (pronounced struh-NEER-ee) is a controversial figure in Republican circles who appears to be a resident of Manhattan. He served 24 years in the state Assembly before being ousted in a GOP primary in 2004, at least in part because of accusations he didn’t live in the district he represented.

On his petitions for the 2008 primary Straniere listed an East Side (Midtown Manhattan) address.

Media reports also indicate that Straniere was fired from a position as assistant counsel with the state Health Department last year after it was discovered he failed to notify the department he also was working at a lobbying firm.

Staniere’s phone number is unlisted and Staten Island Republican Party Chairman John S. Friscia did not return a call for comment.

This move by the Staten Island Republican Party cements a split with the county Conservative parties as well as with the Brooklyn GOP, which supports retired investment banker Paul Atanasio. Atanasio will run on the Conservative Party line and Straniere will face Jamshad Wyne, a Brooklyn cardiologist, in the Republican primary on Sept. 9.

CQ Politics rates the race Democrat Favored because of the ongoing tribulations of the Republican Party to unify behind a candidate.

Michael R. Long, chairman of the state Conservative Party, said he was “very disappointed” the Staten Island GOP rejected Atanasio, a decision Long said they made “all for the wrong reasons.”

“The Staten Island Republican Party consistently insisted they were not for him — not because he wasn’t qualified, not because he wasn’t good looking, not because he was inarticulate, not because he didn’t have a grasp of all the issues, but because he lived on the Brooklyn side of the district and because he happened to be a registered Conservative,” Long said.

He added that while the Conservative Party tends to support Republican Party candidates, the actions of the Staten Island Republican Party indicated the GOP had no interest in unifying for the race.

“Now I think everything has been thrown into disarray. ... I’m not sure where we end up,” he said.

In May, current Rep. Vito J. Fossella announced he would retire from the seat, after admitting he has a daughter from an ongoing extramarital relationship.

Both parties had endorsed businessman Frank Powers, but his sudden death June 22 left Republicans again without a candidate. The Staten Island Republican Party submitted petitions on behalf of Powers by the New York City Board of Election’s July 10 deadline, allowing the committee on replacement to select a new candidate.