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State Sen. Tony Williams, D-Philadelphia, and Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, during Senate debate Monday on the nomination of acting State Police Commissioner Marcus Brown (PennLive photo collage by John L. Micek)

It wasn't a surprise that the Republican-controlled state Senate shot down Gov. Tom Wolf's pick to run the Pennsylvania State Police.

The only surprise was that it took as long as it did.

For more than an hour early Monday afternoon, Republican and Democratic lawmakers sparred over the fate of Marcus Brown, the former Maryland state cop who's been wandering the halls of the Capitol for weeks like some kind of political Mary Celeste, waiting for his fate to be decided.

Wolf's staff spent the weekend working the phones -- hard -- trying to drum up support for Brown, who didn't exactly charm the GOP lawmakers who held his appointment in their hands.

Wolf and Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, also spoke over the weekend at least once. Corman told Wolf that there weren't enough votes to confirm Brown -- maybe not ever.

Republicans were reportedly even offered Redevelopment Capital Assistance Grants for their pet projects.

And they balked. It was that bad.

Democrats, meanwhile, had their necks stepped on to stay onside.

As recently as last Friday, Wolf's spokesman, Jeffrey Sheridan, was insisting that his boss wasn't going to recall Brown's nomination so he could buy more time for his troubled pick.

But that's exactly what happened.

And that's when things went from merely strange to severely weird in that "Only in Harrisburg" sort of way.

Wolf issued a statement Monday morning, recalling the nomination, but adding that he was standing by his man.

Corman said the Senate would only hew to tradition and honor the recall if Wolf promised not to resubmit Brown's nomination.

No dice, the administration said, Brown was staying on as Acting Commissioner. So it was Game On.

Thus the drama that ended with the Senate's 26-22 vote against confirmation was as predictable as any Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner cartoon.

You just knew the anvil was going to be dropped sooner rather than later.

And each side played their respective parts to a tee.

There were the Democrats touting Brown's resume and commitment to diversity:

"Marcus Brown rose up in one of the toughest cities in America, yet we say that he's not worthy of Pennsylvania?" Sen. Vince Hughes, D-Philadelphia, railed at one point, as he played up Brown's background as a Baltimore beat cop.

And there were the Republicans, who methodically took Brown apart with complaints about his credibility and judgment.

And fair or not, the lantern-jawed cop gave them plenty of fodder.

From blow-ups over his controversial decision to wear the State Police grays without going to the State Police Academy; a notorious fracas over some yard signs and tempests over a pension payout and his property tax bill, Brown's nomination took repeated hits.

Taken together, they were the Acme rocket skates, Earthquake Pills and Dehydrated Boulders that invariably led to Brown smacking onto the tunnel painted cliff-face at top speed.

So when Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, noted that Brown had "created unnecessary distractions" that prompted all but three of the chamber's 30 Republicans to vote against him, it was hard not to nod in recognition.

But it's also more than fair to argue that at least two of the charges lodged against Brown were entirely overblown.

With the uniform fracas, the tough-as-nails State Police proved remarkably thin-skinned as they railed against a fellow officer - whose primary sin, it seemed, wasn't being unqualified, but rather for hailing from a force that some among them consider the JV.

There was plenty of silliness to go around in the flap over the yard signs. They were specifically planted to elicit a reaction. And Brown walked right into it. And he was caught on tape, to boot.

There were deeper and legitimate questions about Brown's pension pay-out when he left the Baltimore City force to join the Maryland State Police. And there was quite a bit of debate over what amounted to a little more than $90 worth of homestead exemptions.

In the wake of Monday's vote, Sheridan said Wolf was "very disappointed" in the Senate's decision not to honor the recall, as past administrations had in the past.

For its part, the Senate GOP said it was equally disappointed that Wolf had done an end-run and kept Brown on the job, essentially ignoring the whole "Advise and Consent" thing in the State Constitution. that's supposed to give the Senate final say over Cabinet picks.

"We didn't consent," Corman's spokeswoman, Jennifer Kocher, said, hinting that it might be impossible to indefinitely keep a sidearm-toting temp in the Big Building on Elmerton Avenue in suburban Harrisburg.

So the day ended with the two camps glowering at each other from across the Capitol. Shocker -- there were no meetings planned on the state budget.

And there's barely three weeks to go until the budget deadline. Imagine what's going to happen when tempers get seriously frayed.

John L. Micek is PennLive's Opinion Editor. Readers may email him at jmicek@pennlive.com and follow him on Twitter @ByJohnLMicek.