KINGSTON, NY — Lisa M. Fisher, 47, a Kingston attorney who is seeking election to the Supreme Court in the Third Judicial District, which includes Ulster, Sullivan and five other counties, is now back on the Conservative line, and is also running on the Republican line.

Fisher won the backing of the Conservative Party at their convention, but that was challenged by Richie Stack, the Albany County Conservative Party chairman. He argued that there was faulty representation of the Conservative Party members from the various districts.

On October 6, State Supreme Court Justice Andrew Ceresia agreed with the complaint and ruled that the convention was improperly conducted and that Fisher could not run on the Conservative Party line.

State Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long said at the time that Stack only brought the suit because he supported Fisher’s Democratic opponent, Justin Corcoran, who is also running on the Independence line. On October 17, the appellate court reversed the lower court’s decision and ruled that Fisher could run on the Conservative line.

Fisher has portrayed the court battle as an attempt to keep a qualified woman jurist out of the Third District, which currently has 11 male judges. At the time of the lower court ruling, Fisher said, “The decision to deny me the wishes of a party’s choice for election just spurs my campaign to bring women and ethics to the bench. Women are told to wait our turn yet are denied the opportunity to even get in line.”

After the reversal, Fisher’s campaign put out a press release with several members of the Conservative Party taking shots at Corcoran.

“We are pleased that the court saw through this frivolous effort to deny Lisa Fisher the Conservative Party line”, said John J. Faso, chairman of the Republican Judicial Nominating Convention. “It is a shame that Corcoran and his allies spent so much energy trying to prevent a qualified female candidate like Lisa Fisher from appearing on the ballot this November.

“Our convention was conducted according to state law and party rules. Lisa Fisher won fair and square. It is too bad that Corcoran’s allies tried to thwart the will of Conservative Party delegates and at the same time wasted time and money for county boards of elections,” said Michael Buttino, vice-chairman of the Greene County Conservative Committee and a delegate to the judicial nominating convention.

Corcoran did not reply to a request for comment.