On the F-35s: Lt. Gov candidate Corbo runs as the “Banish the F-35s” candidate

Ralph “Carcajou” Corbo, Lt. Governor candidate pictured during Vermont Public Radio and Vermont PBS gubernatorial debate. Corbo recently switched his party to the "Banish the F-35s" party, saying that much of his modest support in the gubernatorial primary likely came from people passionate about banning F-35 fighter jets. Screenshot, VPR/PBS debate.

Ralph “Carcajou” Corbo, activist and Wallingford resident, is running for lieutenant governor under one clear issue: banishing the F-35 fighter jets.  

His party, “Banish the F35s,” sharply departs from the Democratic ballot he ran on during the gubernatorial primary in early August. Analyzing the voting demographics after the primary, Corbo noted that most of his support came from residents of Chittenden County, where the military jets often fly overhead. This realization led him to change parties and prompted his lieutenant gubernatorial bid.  

Corbo runs his campaign out of a $90 laptop with no webcam and has neither a website nor any kind of self-promotion save for appearances at public forums (he’s infamous for interrupting Gov. Phil Scott’s inaugural address to throw fake money from the balcony and advocate for clean air and water). But he says that his party name is its own public outreach.  

“Basically, I’m using [it] as my main thing to reach out to a lot of my co-activists, especially those I’ve worked with in the Stop the F-35 movement,” Corbo said.  

His platform is more than simply a ploy to get more votes. Corbo has been a vociferous activist against the fighter jets since 2018, and he says that one of his goals in running for lieutenant governor is to make people aware of the issues stemming from the F-35s. One key danger he lists is the stealth coating applied onto the bodies of the fighter jets to make them impervious to radar.  

“There’s been some municipal emergency squads that have told the Air Force that they would refuse to go to these crash sites because it would severely endanger their personnel from the fumes of the burning stealth coat,” he said.  

Retired U.S. Air Force colonel and longtime Save Our Skies advocate, Rosanne Greco, expounded on this stealth coating.  

“If the plane burns, not only does it release composite material, but even more dangerous is what happens when that chemical stealth coating burns. The Air Force found this out when they did some testing of a burning panel that had this radar coating on it,” Greco said as the F-35s roared in the background overhead.  

“There were five contractors who were supposed to watch this thing burn because this chemical coating is classified. Two of them died from inhaling the fumes, and the other three were permanently disabled,” Greco said. 

Corbo guesses that it’s going to take a lot of work to eject the F-35s from Vermont now that they’re here, such as outreach and voting out incumbents that support the F-35s.   

“We’re going to have to make more people aware outside Chittenden County. We hope to reach out to younger people that might see the connection between environmental degradation and the F-35. Another thing is if Leahy can be defeated, or hopefully on his own will withdraw and not run again,” he said.  

Senator Patrick Leahy supported basing the F-35 fighter jets at Burlington International Airport back in 2012. In a VTDigger article, he’s quoted praising the Vermont Air National Guard, telling Gen. Mark Welsh, the Air Force chief of staff, that “they are doing a great job and are the most loyal, patriotic people in the world. You would be so proud of them and they would not disappoint you if they got the F-35.”  

Bernie Sanders, Vermont’s junior senator, supports the F-35s because of the economic boost and creation of jobs.  

Corbo also notes that it’s necessary to keep up the pressure on the congressional delegation. He says that the movement will continue to draw on support from Ben Cohen, co-creator of Ben & Jerry’s, who adds a celebrity voice to the many calling for the removal of the F-35s.  

Despite his particular party affiliation, Corbo wants potential constituents to know that he’s not a one-issue candidate.   

“If I'm allowed to go into a debate, I would actually talk about many different things. I'm not only an anti-war activist opposing the military industrial congressional complex, I've also done a lot of activism for the environment and for animal rights also,” Corbo said.