Melissa Schlag, the former executive director of Citizens for Protection of Public Lands (CPPL) in Connecticut, is challenging Democrat Eileen Daily for Connecticut State Senate District 33, along the Connecticut River. Schlag was active in leading the opposition to the Haddam Land Swap, a scheme to trade public conservation land to developers in exchange for other land in a back room deal. Daily supported the land swap, which was eventually defeated.

From the Hartford Courant:

State Sen. Eileen Daily’s dominance of Senate District 33 is being challenged by an up-and-coming environmental activist.

Melissa Schlag recently emerged as a fresh face in local politics as she led the fight against the controversial Haddam land swap, which Daily, a veteran Democrat from Westbrook, had championed.

Now, Schlag, 37, a small business owner and founder of the Haddam-based Citizens for the Protection of Public Lands – which strongly opposed the swap – hopes to unseat Daily in the sprawling district the senator has controlled for nearly two decades.

“I think we have a real chance,” said Schlag, who is on the ballot as Green Party candidate. “It’s clear that Sen. Daily doesn’t represent the people who elected her any more. She is out of touch. Maybe she’s been at it too long.”

[…]

Schlag sees Daily as even more vulnerable this time around because of her steadfast backing of the hotly disputed Haddam land conveyance bill, which sought to trade 17 acres of state conservation land overlooking the Connecticut River in Haddam for a larger tract of forest land the developers – partners in the Goodspeed Landing banquet facility – own elsewhere in town.

After two previous failed attempts, Daily pushed through the Haddam swap last year, which was signed into law by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. But the deal fell through earlier this month, when the developers pulled out following a disagreement over the appraisals, which rated the state land at a significantly higher value than the wooded acres for which it was being traded.

“The problem with the land swap was that the people were completely left out of the process,” Schlag said. “It was a backroom deal. I want to put the people back in politics.”

Schlag gave her first interview Thursday at Eagle Landing State Park on the banks of the Connecticut River, with the picturesque metal “Swing Bridge” stretching across the water and the white Victorian Goodspeed Opera House on the far bank. Just up from where she spoke, with trees newly in leaf, is the 17-acre Clark Creek Preserve, which was slated to be traded away in the swap.

Schlag acknowledges that she faces an uphill battle in her campaign against a widely known and well-funded incumbent. As a third-party candidate, the Haddam resident will first need to clear two hurdles — collect 8,000 signatures, or 20 percent of voters in the last election, as well as raise $15,000.