(AP) — The Senate side plot of Louisiana's deficit-closing special session, whether to oust a senator from the chamber because of multiple domestic violence incidents, ended without the historic vote. Troy Brown decided to resign from the Senate last week rather than go through the indignity of an expulsion hearing that appeared likely to conclude with him booted from his elected job, a vote that could have given him the ignoble distinction of being only the second senator to be removed that way. Brown, a Democrat from Geismar, pleaded no contest twice over the past year to misdemeanor charges involving abuse against women. The disciplinary effort had gotten messy, as Brown fought the expulsion attempts and senators grew angry and worried about the long-term precedent such a public feud would set. Even for a procedural hearing of the full Senate, meeting as a disciplinary committee, the chamber was packed with onlookers for such a rare occasion. [...] with Brown gone, senators can get back to the less lurid, more mundane — but very necessary — job of balancing the state's deficit-riddled state operating budget, determining how to close a $304 million gap before the short special session ends Wednesday. Brown pleaded no contest in January to a misdemeanor charge of domestic abuse battery, arising from allegations he bit his wife's arm.