Paul Kirby is reporting for the Daily Freeman a month after the Ulster County Democratic Committee rejected Lisa Cutten as its candidate for county comptroller, the former Kingston treasurer said July 25, she will now run on the Republican, Conservative and Independence Party lines. Cutten's campaign announcement said she initially had no plans to run under the GOP or Conservative banners, but changed her mind. In her campaign announcement this week, Cutten said of Gallagher's endorsement: "It appears that the process and candidate selection were not subject to an honest democratic process but rather the result of backroom deals." Asked about her opponent choosing to run on the Republican line after initially saying she would not, Gallagher said: "... I find it ironic, and an example of sour grapes, that she accepted the nomination from the [county] Republican Committee, which literally held a backroom, private meeting on July 18, with no public notice or available minutes, to select her as a candidate." Ulster County Republican Committee Chairman Roger Rascoe said the party approached Cutten about running, not the other way around. The winner of the November election will serve the remaining two years of former Comptroller Elliott Auerbach’s four-year term. Cutten formerly served as the county's director of Accountability, Compliance and Efficiency, as deputy county budget director, senior auditor in the county Comptroller's Office, county auditor, comptroller for the towns of Fishkill and Poughkeepsie, and city of Kingston treasurer. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.