Statehouse Headliners: Chittenden County senators oppose nuclear bombers, including F-35

By Guy Page

Five Chittenden County senators voted Wednesday for a resolution “strongly opposing the basing of any nuclear weapon delivery system in the State of Vermont.” The sixth senator from the home of the Vermont Air National Guard was absent.

S.R. 5, introduced by Sen. Anthony Pollina, P-Washington, stops short of explicitly condemning the planned siting of the F-35 fighter/bomber at the Vermont Air National Guard base in South Burlington. However, it says a U.S. Air Force official said in 2018 “the variant of the F-35 to be assigned to the National Guard will eventually receive a Block 4 (nuclear capable) upgrade.”

Guy Page is affiliated with the Vermont Energy Partnership, the Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare, and Physicians, Families & Friends for a Better Vermont.

Voting for the non-binding resolution against nuclear-weapon delivery (including the F-35) in Vermont were Sens. Ashe, Balint, Baruth, Bray, Campion, Clarkson, Cummings, Hardy, Hooker, Ingram, Kitchel, Lyons, MacDonald, McCormack, McNeil, Nitka, Perchlik, Pollina, Sears, Sirotkin, Westman, White. Opposed were Sens. Benning, Brock, Collamore, Mazza, Parent, Rodgers, Starr. Sen. Chris Pearson, P-Chittenden, was absent. The resolution will not be moved over to the House.

As Memorial Day weekend approaches, Vermonters who recall that Vermont Air National Guard fighters protected New York City from further attacks after 9/11 may be interested to know that both Senate and House May 17 approved a resolution honoring the Barre granite craftpersons and industry that produced six monoliths recently installed at the 9/11 Memorial Glade in New York City.

The monoliths produced by Rock of Ages lay flat, measure 15 feet long and 8 feet wide, are of varying heights, and appear “worn, but not beaten, symbolizing strength and determination through adversity,” HCR 178, introduced by Barre City reps Peter Anthony and Tommy Walz and Barre Town reps Rob LaClair and Topper McFaun, says.

Both chambers also resolved to honor U.S. Navy flier Commander Robert H. Eastman, a Shaftsbury native who died of natural causes Feb. 2, 2019. The resolution notes that Cmdr. Eastman “flew over 100 combat sorties in support of coalition forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, and his overall flight record totaled 3,000 airborne hours and over 500 aircraft carrier landings.” At age 41, he was on a career path to commanding a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier.

Statehouse Headliners is intended primarily to educate, not advocate. It is e-mailed to an ever-growing list of interested Vermonters, public officials and media. Guy Page is affiliated with the Vermont Energy Partnership; the Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare; and Physicians, Families and Friends for a Better Vermont.

Image courtesy of Michael Bielawski/TNR

7 thoughts on “Statehouse Headliners: Chittenden County senators oppose nuclear bombers, including F-35

  1. I’m thinking that they should move the city of Burlington and maybe most of Chittenden county to California. They would fit in great there. I’m a Burlington native but it sure as hell isn’t the Burlington that I grew up in.

  2. For our sake will they just end this crazy legislative session and go home before they do more dumb stuff. I’m ashamed of the Vermont Legislature, period

  3. Chittenden county senators are Communists….or hasn’t anybody noticed? And that crazy Pollina….acolyte of Bernie Sanders ….. has been working for years to take Vermont and the country down. They don’t care about protecting America; they are the open borders people. The ‘I Hate Bad, Bad America’ crowd.
    Memo to Trump: Send a caravan of illegals to Burlington, please. The sanctuary city wants to take care of them. Not just a few…the whole caravan.

  4. Just an excuse, they are not nuclear capable, and there is no plan to make them nuclear capable. Could they be made so? Well treaties aside, yes, but then so could the F-15. Special weapons are tightly controlled, and you are not going to see them at a dual use facility like Burlington. Nor will you see tham anywhere the B-52 and/or B-2 are based. Even the B-1 is restricted to conventional weapons.

  5. The brainless trust from Chitt co. should stick to real evil stuff like the straws and
    plastic bags and leave the protecting the country up to the experts. The mission of
    VTANG has always been a interceptor role not something you use nukes for. Making
    them nuke capable just means they can carry if their sent to overseas support. I really
    don’t think we would need nukes to take out Canada or Mexico, or anything in their range. We have planes spread out across the world for attacking our enemies who would be China or Iran, not much threat anywhere else.

  6. Chittenden County senators oppose nuclear bombers, including F-35, what would you
    expect from these Progressive DemocRATS…..just following the agenda.

    Some more ” The Sky is Falling ” rhetoric from these legislators, they should stick to what
    they know ” Plastic Straws & Plastic bags ” legislation.

    I cannot wait until the F-35 arrives !!

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