ALBANY — A Republican candidate for governor of New York, Patrick Manning, is accusing another Republican gubernatorial candidate, John Faso, of threatening, through a campaign staffer, to expose that Mr. Manning is getting a divorce.

The threat, Mr. Manning said, was that the divorce would be exposed publicly unless Mr. Manning dropped out of the race for governor.

Mr. Manning’s allegation, which is certain to have an impact on the political aspirations of both candidates who are competing aggressively for the nomination of the Conservative Party, was flatly denied by Mr. Faso, a former minority leader of the Assembly.

Mr. Faso said Mr. Manning’s allegation was a “desperate” rant coming from a “desperate candidate,” and said, “Patrick makes up of a lot of things like that.”

Mr. Manning, 40 told The New York Sun that a staffer from Mr. Faso’s campaign approached someone from his own campaign yesterday and threatened to disclose that Mr. Manning and his wife had become separated.

Mr. Manning, a six-term assemblyman from Dutchess County who is said to be the tallest elected public office holder in the country, would not identify the staffer who he says approached his campaign with the threat.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Manning described himself as “shocked” and said he didn’t know why “Faso felt he had to go to this extreme.”

He said, “My children are going to have to read about it in tomorrow’s newspaper.”

The accusation comes as both candidates, along with William Weld and Randy Daniels, were here today to attend the Conservative Party’s annual conference. Attaining the nomination of the party, the fourth largest in the state, is perceived as crucial for attracting the Republican nomination and succeeding in November general election.

Mr. Manning, who has little support among Republican Party leaders and has a significantly smaller campaign war chest than his rivals, has been counting on an endorsement from the Conservative Party to breathe life into his campaign.

In recent days, he has attacked Mr. Faso for his work as a lobbyist, making the claim that a lobbyist cannot be a credible candidate for governor. Mr. Faso, who joined an Albany law firm after losing the state comptroller’s race in 2002, was a registered lobbyist until this year.

Conservative Party leaders have said Mr. Faso and Mr. Manning have the best shots at getting the party’s endorsement.

Mr. Manning, who has two children, ages 8 and 13, said he is in process of getting a divorce and said the proceedings had begun before the alleged threat was made.

“If divorce was a disqualification from public service,” he said, “then at least half the legislators around the country would be disqualified.”