Haddam selectwoman takes a knee and lots of heat
Second pledge protest draws a big crowd that mostly disapproves
Haddam — In a sweltering firehouse packed with tense residents and veterans, Selectwoman Melissa Schlag on Monday night pledged not to resign despite calls for her to do so following her decision to kneel in protest during the Pledge of Allegiance.
Amid boos and shouts, Schlag, a Democrat, knelt for the second time this month before Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting. More than 100 people filled the hall, surrounded by reporters, photographers, firefighters and silent state troopers.
Schlag asked residents and politicians “to not add words to my silent protest,” saying “I don’t hate my country, I love my country.”
She says kneeling during the pledge isn’t about disrespecting the country or the flag, but rather her way of objecting to President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin after the intelligence community’s decisive findings that the Kremlin used cyberattacks to influence the 2016 election. She also said she knelt in the wake of continued “racial and gender injustice” in the U.S.
“They don’t have to like it, but they should try to understand it before they call me names,” she said in an interview.
Pointing their fists and clutching miniature American flags, more than a dozen residents and veterans outraged by Schlag’s protest lined up and told her to take her political expression elsewhere.
“I wholeheartedly respect your right to protest, to take a knee, to lay down, to burn the flag,” said U.S. Marine veteran Pablo Arroyo, of Hadd-
am, to raucous applause. “But if that is what you want to do, do that on your own time.”
Montville Town Council Chairman Tom McNally joined almost a hundred people at a rally in support of the flag held at the Higganum Town Green less than a mile from the Haddam firehouse.
Asked if anyone had ever knelt during the pledge in Montville, McNally said he didn’t believe so.
“They better not,” he said. “You have a right to do it, but it’s disrespectful.”
The rally was organized by state Sen. Art Linares, R-Westbrook, who’s running for state treasurer, and former Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst, one of five GOP gubernatorial candidates in an Aug. 14 primary. Tech entrepreneur and U.S. Navy veteran Steve Obsitnik, also looking for the GOP nomination for governor, joined the rally to speak in defense of the flag, as did lieutenant governor candidate and Darien First Selectman Jamie Stevenson, congressional candidate Jennifer Nye of Manchester and attorney general candidate John Shaban.
“This isn’t about taking anybody’s rights away,” Linares said in an interview. “This is about celebrating the flag and respecting the freedom our country represents.”
Asked if he thought a law forcing elected officials and citizens to stand during the pledge or national anthem would be constitutional, Linares said he was focused “on the matter at hand.”
“I think it’s disrespectful,” he said. “The flag doesn’t represent Trump, it represents our country.”
Schlag accused politicians speaking out against her of “using this as a political crutch … plain and simple.”
Schlag’s 10-second protest could spark more than a year of debate, as she ran unopposed and was elected in 2017. Some residents said they plan on attending every meeting until she’s gone.
Schlag ran as a Green Party candidate for state Senate against Linares in 2012. She said she has no plans to seek higher office and “gained nothing from this.”
She shared multiple harassing emails sent to her and her bosses at work, where she’s an environmental lobbyist.
“I hope you die of cancer,” one anonymous email read. “You liberal scumbags tried to stop Trump, but you never will.”
Schlag argued that public officials “don’t lose their right to free speech” as soon as they’re elected.
She also brushed aside the notion that perhaps she should have protested in a way that wouldn’t confuse or offend anyone. In her view, her “silent 10 seconds hurt nobody” but “ripped the bandage off festering wounds” of hatred and intolerance.
“I think we need an intervention in this country,” she said. “We need to acknowledge the hate and deal with it headon. Until we deal with the hate, racism and all our vices, the words ‘with liberty and justice for all’ mean nothing.”
Several dozen also came out to support Schlag.
Vietnam veteran Bob Wallin said no vet had a right to tell anyone how and when to exercise free speech.
People picking and choosing “who gets to be a better American” made him sick, Wallin said.
“I fought to defend your rights and now you want to take them from her?” he added.
“This is bigger than all of us,” said Kacey Elfstrom of East Haddam. “Nobody can defend the Second Amendment who’s not willing to defend the First.”
Several pointed to other elected officials who’ve knelt for several months without generating heavy controversy, including Middletown Democratic Board of Education member Lisa Loomis-Davern and Republican Regional School District 17 Board of Education members Eric Couture of Killingworth and Maura Wallin of Haddam.
After the meeting, First Selectman Lizz Milardo said the town had received more than 250 calls and emails in the last several days, only 10 of them supporting Schlag. None of them, she said, have been harassing or violent but many called for Schlag to resign.
“I understand her First Amendment right,” she said, disagreeing with the method of protest. “I just need to really focus on the town.”