"It’s the first time I can recall — let me rephrase — it’s the first time I’m aware of a recall-related lawsuit...

"... where only the official who is being targeted for recall gets to be a party, and the folks who are working to recall that official are shut out of the process."

Organizers of the recall petition drive against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker got shut out of the lawsuit Walker brought against the Government Accountability Board. Walker is suing to force the GAB to do something to check for duplicate, fake, and forged signatures on the petitions. The judge rejected the intervention to avoid delay in a case where speed is important and because the GAB will make the necessary arguments defending its own policy.

Really, what would the Democrats pushing the recall add that would even help their side of the argument? Shouldn't they prefer that the argument against checking the signatures be made by the (seemingly) neutral entity, the GAB? Those questions make the intervention look like a delay tactic, but seeming like an agent of delay undercuts the argument they wanted to make about not bogging down the process with signature-checking.

But maybe what they wanted was to be put in a position where they can complain about getting shut out — as we're seeing now — and put pressure on the judge from the outside.

Speaking of delay, the lawyer for the petition organizers — quoted in the post title — arrived 35 minutes late for the hearing on the motion to intervene.