"That's not the consumer we want to do business with," Harrington said. "We don't want to be the problem, we want to be the solution to the consumer."

It's rare for customers to use their services more than once or twice a year, Harrington testified. Many people use credit cards far more often, he said, "but you don't make the same correlation."

***

Much of Thursday afternoon was spent taking testimony from an expert witness the state and its interveners want disqualified.

McNeil will rule on their motion, likely on Monday, but allowed Tamara Johnson of Environomics, an issues-management, government affairs and public relations firm, to take the stand, with assurances he will disregard her testimony if he disqualifies her.

Hired 10 days ago at $150 an hour, Johnson - who has worked on other ballot initiatives with some of her firm's clients - said she had reviewed four binders full of affidavits and documents in the case.

"It appears to me there is a problem" with the I-164 petition drive, she said. "Perhaps it's a breakdown in communications, perhaps it's a breakdown in the understanding of the law, but they were not adhering to the law."