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"That is not how NVO operates," she said. Johnson said NVO complies with circulator requirements in the states in which it operates. Johnson, who said she resisted a request from TABOR protestants' attorneys for "every scrap of paper, down to the last Post-It note," said she agreed to turn over information on the residency issue before the court. "I have nothing to hide," she said. Johnson has also given a deposition in the case. Johnson acknowledged referring to some circulators as a "Missouri crew" and "62 pros" in an e-mail. It is not illegal in Oklahoma to pay petition circulators. "I followed the law," Johnson said. Johnson also contended that some of the people who are criticizing the circulators themselves brought in people from out of state to harass circulators and block people from signing the TABOR petition, in violation of Oklahoma law. "It made it very difficult for people to get signatures," she said. Such actions impede people's right to petition the government, she added. "They are afraid of the free ideas and the free marketplace," Johnson said. "They don't want a debate over the issue. They want to shut it down before it even becomes a debate." Johnson said NVO conducts validity tests on 20 percent to 30 percent of the signatures circulators gather, checking them against voter lists. She said that potentially invalid signatures must be submitted along with others because they are all on the same petition sheets. "I can't just cross them off," she said. "Those are people who are residents of Oklahoma wanting their voice to be heard." Johnson said NVO has been in existence since 1992 and has worked on more than 400 petition drives. She said she has been in the business, first as a circulator, since 1979. "In any industry, there are going to be people who are want to scam the system," she said. "But the industry shouldn't be defined by dishonest people. The industry should be defined by those who are running it and leading it." Johnson said she has hired a retired police chief to run her risk-management division, to make sure people are doing what they're supposed to do. "I take it very seriously," she said.