GOP needs new N.Y. congressional candidate

NEW YORK, June 23 (UPI) -- The race to replace U.S. Rep. Vito Fossella, R.N.Y., appears wide open again now that the leading GOP contender has died of a heart attack.

Retired Wall Street executive Frank Powers, 67, died in his sleep at his Staten Island home Sunday, throwing a major curve into the strange race for New York City's only Republican-held congressional seat.

"I think we need to go back to the well and revisit everybody we considered," Brooklyn GOP Chairman Craig Eaton said.

Fossella had decided not to seek re-election in the wake of a drunken-driving arrest and revelation he fathered a child out of wedlock. His decision meant Powers, his former-fundraiser, was the expected GOP nominee for the November election, the Daily News reported Sunday.

Powers' son, Fran Powers, 47, had once considered running for the same seat as a candidate of the Libertarian party. Democratic leaders have endorsed Councilman Mike McMahon for the seat.