The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘I kneel because I love my country’
Spurred by Trump’s meeting with Putin, selectman refuses to stand for Pledge
HADDAM — The town’s former Democratic first selectman is under fire by Republicans and residents following her decision to kneel when the Pledge of Allegiance is recited at town meetings.
Selectman Melissa Schlag, who took a knee at the July 16 Board of Selectmen meeting, said she was motivated primarily by President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that same day in Helsinki, Finland, during which he denied Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.
The following day, under pressure from critics, Trump backed down.
Schlag wrote a two-page letter July 20, which she posted on Facebook under the title “Dear America,” justifying her position. She listed a number of other reasons for her stance in the missive.
By late afternoon Tuesday, the post had garnered 256 comments.
“He took the word of a terrorist dictator over United States intelligence agencies and interfered with the one thing I hold dear. Out of all of the issues that I knelt for on Monday, it’s for our democracy. Without that, we are not America,” Schlag said.
“I don’t kneel because I hate my country, I kneel because I love my country. I don’t kneel to disrespect veterans or the flag, I kneel to respect what they fought so hard for.
“Without that, we have nothing and they fought for nothing and we’ve lost everything,” said Schlag, the advocacy communications specialist for the CT Fund for the Environment in New Haven.
Meanwhile, state and local Republican leaders criticized Schlag’s actions.
First Selectman Lizz Milardo called Schlag’s refusal to stand during the Pledge a “selfish act of attention.”
“It is unfortunate that Melissa has decided to use a Haddam Board of Selectmen meeting as her only forum for her own personal interests. The flag does not represent a president or issue you take exception to, it represents our nation and freedom that others have defended for the rest of us,” said Milardo, who added many residents have expressed their discontent with Schlag’s action.
Calls and emails to Connecticut Democratic State Central Committee Chairman Nick Balletto and Vice Chairman Sharon Mounds were not immediately returned.
Republican Regional School District 17 Board of Education members Maura Willin, of Haddam, and Eric Couture, of Killingworth, have been kneeling at meetings since August, but have received almost no pushback, they said.
Wallin said she began doing so to support her Latina daughter after the NFL football season began last year.
“My children and I watched the news reports and had lengthy, honest discussions. We talked about those who had opinions that did not support the players and those who did,” Wallin said.
Her daughter asked whether her mother would be OK with her kneeling at events, said Wallin, daughter of a Vietnam veteran and the granddaughter of aWorld War II veteran, who spent 12 years as a Navy wife.
“My child saw injustice in the world that is aimed at people who look like her, and I want all of my children and all adults and children of color to know they have an ally in me,” she said, adding her action has nothing to do with party politics.
Couture, a former political researcher, said he and Wallin didn’t consult one another, but happened to make their decision at the same time.
“We’re not living up to ideals of our country if the last line of the Pledge of Allegiance is ‘liberty and justice for all,’ when millions of Americans don’t fully experience that every day. We’re not living up to what we say we stand for, and we should call attention to that,” Couture said.
Milardo said she knows about Wallin deciding not to stand.
“She also has knelt at other meetings that I have attended, so she is consistent with her message, however the BOE does not come under my purview,” she said.
State Sen. Art Linares, a Republican running for state treasurer, reacted to a Facebook photo that showed Schlag taking a knee. He demanded she apologize to residents.
“No matter our political differences, we cannot allow blatant animus toward the symbols that unite us as a people to be tolerated in public life,” he said in a news release. Linares took special exception as a grandson of Cuban exiles who fled Communism, he said.
Democratic Planning and Zoning Commissioner Michael Farina shared a video of Linares on her page, saying he supports Schlag.
“People gave their lives to protect America from totalitarian tactics and laws that Art Linares would want to subject us to. This is a campaign ploy to get Republican primary votes and is despicable. I hope he loses this August and is out of politics forever,” Farina wrote.
Schlag “represents the standard elected Democrat of 2018 focused on grabbing headlines to perpetuate selective liberal outrage,” Connecticut Republican Party Chairman J.R. Romano said in a statement.
“The flag of the United States is a unifying symbol for that which is great about our nation. But rather than pledging her allegiance to this unifying icon, Melissa Schlag chose to make a divisive and inappropriate interjection and make herself, rather than her service to her constituents, the story,” Romano said.
Schlag said she has been a target of criticism since she opposed the Haddam land swap in 2011, which proposed exchanging 87 acres of wooded property for 17 acres of state-owned land along the Connecticut River for economic development.
“I believe we must tolerate dissent and differing opinions, if we lose that, we have nothing,” said Schlag, who said the controversy is about human rights.
“The vitriol that has been displayed on Facebook and on my selectman page is proof this country is so divided and needs to heal. But screaming at people from behind a keyboard doesn’t get us anywhere. We need to act, and treat other humans with respect,” she said.
“Tolerance is much harder to practice than hate. Hate is easy,” Schlag added.