Throughout his election campaign, Gov. Tom Wolf pledged “a fresh start” in Pennsylvania government. On Monday, the Senate Republicans told Wolf to start fresh with his choice for state police commissioner.

But there’s nothing fresh about the same ole, same ole party antagonism in Harrisburg.

The 26-22 rejection of Col. Marcus Brown was the first time in the memory of current Senate officials that the Senate rejected a governor’s nominee in a floor vote. The Senate swept aside Wolf’s request earlier Monday to withdraw Brown’s nomination. It’s being described as a new low point in the relationship between the Senate’s GOP leadership and the new Democratic governor.

While the stand-off is largely symbolic — Brown will remain indefinitely as acting commissioner — it’s still disappointing on several levels.

The rejection has been portrayed as a protest over Brown’s decision to wear the state police uniform, a privilege traditionally reserved for graduates of the state police academy. Brown, who has been commissioner since January, accrued his experience out of state as the former superintendent of the Maryland State Police, and before that, deputy chief of the Baltimore Police Department.

The uniform flap was overblown from the start, propagated by a tight-knit and politically powerful state troopers’ union whose predominantly white male members are accustomed to promotion from within.

The uniform flap intensified in March after a retired trooper video-recorded Brown removing roadside signs near his Harrisburg home. The signs accused Brown of not earning the right to wear the state troopers’ uniform. The troopers’ union responded to the video by formally opposing Brown’s nomination. Brown apologized for what he called an impulsive indiscretion.

The uniform protest continues to overshadow the larger issues of what Wolf intended when he nominated Brown. The governor’s priorities include a more diverse police force. Brown, 50, echoes Wolf’s call for diversity as well as a continued fight against Pennsylvania’s growing heroin epidemic. But Brown also has voiced liberal notions of law enforcement that rankle gun rights groups and troopers.

Republicans want Wolf to submit another nominee. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, called the troopers’ union move unprecedented, and numerous Republicans questioned how Brown can lead the agency without the rank-and-file’s support.

But Democrats cite the same troopers’ union resistance as a reason why Brown is the right man for the job. The governor says resistance to a diversification effort only proves how badly a change is needed.

So here we are. The Senate Republicans won’t approve the acting state police commissioner, and the governor says it doesn’t matter. The Legislature goes through the motions of governing but nothing changes.

So much for a fresh start.