Marcus Brown

HARRISBURG — The state Senate on Monday rejected Gov. Tom Wolf’s nominee to lead the Pennsylvania State Police, marking a new low point in the relationship between the Senate’s GOP leadership and the new Democratic governor.

The 26-22 rejection of Col. Marcus Brown, largely along partisan lines, was the first time in the memory of current Senate officials the chamber rejected a governor’s nominee in a floor vote.

Three Republicans crossed party lines to vote with all 19 Democrats in supporting Brown. However, the vote is largely ceremonial, and Wolf said Monday he would keep the former Maryland State Police superintendent in the post as acting commissioner, where Brown has served since January.

In a brief statement Monday, Wolf defended Brown as having the necessary experience to lead the organization and said Brown has his full support in the job.

Brown, 50, has voiced liberal notions of law enforcement that have rankled gun rights groups and troopers in a conservative law enforcement agency that is one of the nation’s largest and an influential force in the Pennsylvania Capitol.

In March, the state troopers’ union came out against Brown’s nomination after a retired trooper filmed Brown removing roadside signs near his suburban Harrisburg house that accused him of not earning the right to wear a state troopers’ uniform.

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.

Republicans urged Wolf to find someone else for the job.

“It’s very difficult for me to envision anybody leading an organization, whether it’s the state police or any organization, that doesn’t have the respect, trust and support of those that you are leading,” Scarnati said. “That’s a very difficult task. So, as we move forward, this is about making sure that we have solid ground with the Pennsylvania State Police and their leadership and their cooperation to work together.”