An end-of-session event that cut short a Democratic filibuster and paved the way for lawmakers to refer the same-sex-marriage ban to the fall ballot is now the subject of a rare formal ethics complaint.

Democratic Sen. Ken Cheuvront of Phoenix has asked the Senate Ethics Committee to issue a formal reprimand against Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise. Cheuvront accuses Harper of conspiring with other Republican leaders to intentionally break the rules of the Senate by turning off microphones and allowing the Republican majority leader to make a motion in the middle of a debate between Democratic senators.

Cheuvront calls the move, which enabled the ban on same-sex marriage to go to a vote, an "unconscionable" violation of Senate rules.

"If we cannot follow our own rules, how can we expect people to follow the rules we set for them?" Cheuvront asked.

Senate rules generally provide that senators can speak on the subject of a bill as long as they want without interruption once they are recognized.

Harper refused to comment about his actions when he chaired the Senate session June 27, but he said he believes the Democratic filibuster was itself in violation of the Senate rules. He called the ethics complaint a partisan attack meant to help his opponent in the Republican primary.

"Their filibuster was not allowed by Senate rules: They were repeating points, not making new points, and they did not have the right to keep the floor," said Harper, who had helped stage an all-night filibuster to stall the passage of a state budget a day earlier.

The dispute began during a Democratic filibuster on the final day of the session. Cheuvront and Sen. Paula Aboud, D-Tucson, who are the Senate's only openly gay members, had control of the floor in a question-and-answer session over an unrelated tax bill. As Aboud began to respond to a question from Cheuvront, Harper announced from the chair that there had been a technical problem with the microphones.

"One second - I clicked on the wrong thing," he said. "I clicked on the 'clear mikes.' "

Instead of turning the floor back over to the Democrats, whose microphones had been shut off, he called on Senate Majority Leader Thayer Verschoor, R-Mesa.

As Verschoor began to speak, Democrats shouted "point of order" repeatedly - a call that under Senate rules is supposed to be acknowledged immediately by the chairman, Cheuvront said. Instead, Harper announced that Verschoor's motion passed, which ended the debate and allowed the ban on same-sex marriage to come to a vote.

In the complaint, Cheuvront accuses Harper of intentionally cutting off the debate in violation of the Senate rules after plotting the ruse with Verschoor. Verschoor could not be reached for comment.

The complaint is now before Sen. Jay Tibshraeny, the Republican chair of the Senate Ethics Committee, who must decide whether to hold a hearing on the matter.

Tibshraeny, who criticized his fellow senators on the floor for a loss of decorum in the final hours of session, said he will make his decision this week.

If the ethics committee decides there was an ethical violation, the committee can recommend that the full Senate take action ranging from a reprimand to expulsion from the Senate, which require a majority vote and a two-thirds vote of the full Senate, respectively. Cheuvront has requested a reprimand.

Harper was the subject of the only other ethics complaint filed in the last four years, Tibshraeny said. That complaint was also filed by a Democrat, who accused Harper of using his subpoena power to feed information to the Phoenix New Times. It was dismissed after a preliminary hearing.

Reach the reporter at amanda .crawford@arizonarepublic .com.