Morelle stands down.

Assemblyman majority leader Joe Morelle has removed his name for consideration for Speaker.
Despite his scheming, scamming and backstabbing, he didn't get enough support from the downstate Democrats to win that office.
Morelle didn't get support from his arch enemy David Gantt, either.
Nobody thought that he would.
Gantt and his crew should be letting out some rousing cheers.
They are incapable of being constructive, but they can destroy.
They see this as sufficient.
Which is why the Rochester Democrats are in such a mess.
Morelle, Gantt and their respective gangs have irrevocably split Rochester's Democrats over the years into two antagonistic factions.
Each is unwilling to work with the other.
Both desire the other's conquest and conversion.
Given this, Morelle as Speaker could not be seen as a unifying force because he wasn't one in his own backyard.
Morelle did get the support of Rochester's daily newsrag, the D&C.
It is sometimes referred to as the "Demogogue and Comicon."
The D&C recently ran their editorial opinion that the downstate Democrats were "arrogant."
Arrogant, perhaps, but there are more of them than upstate Democrats.
The D&C doesn't cut any ice with them.
Come to think of it, they don't cut much ice with the few thinking individuals left in Rochester.
The position of Speaker was beyond Morelle's grasp.
Morelle has come to that bitter conclusion, and has stood down for consideration as the permanent Speaker.
Of course, why should we take Morelle at his word?