COLCHESTER — Sen. Virginia “Ginny” Lyons, D-Chittenden, sat on stage waving several dollars bills in the air as the silent audience waited for her to begin her presentation.

“Do you get it? I’m speaking!” Lyons said, referencing the Supreme Court ruling Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, which Lyons said defined money as speech and corporations as people.

The 5-4 Supreme Court decision gave corporations a First Amendment right to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns. Lyons; Jerry Greenfield, the co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s; Anthony Iarrapino, citizen activist and attorney; and John Bonifaz, co-founder and director of Free Speech for People spoke out against the January 2010 ruling to a half-full auditorium at St. Michael’s College on Monday evening.

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