PHOENIX — The Senate Ethics Committee voted 3-2 Monday to investigate the actions of Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, on the last night of the legislative session.

Sen. Jay Tibshraeny, R-Chandler, sided with the two Democrats on the panel in concluding that further inquiry is needed to “clear the air” on what happened when Harper, chairing floor debate, shut off the microphones of two legislators in the middle of discussion. The maneuver cleared the way to table that issue and vote to put a measure on the November ballot to constitutionally ban gay marriage.

Sen. Richard Miranda, D-Phoenix, said part of what has to be answered is exactly why Harper did what he did.

At the time he shut off the microphones, Harper said he had made a mistake. But Harper has since said the move was a conscious decision because the two lawmakers were “making the same point over and over again” rather than treading new ground.

The Ethics Committee Hearing will give panel members a chance to ask Harper about the inconsistencies.

Harper left the hearing — and the building — before the hearing was over. But in a written response to a query from Capitol Media Services, he said Miranda “attributed comments to me that were never made by me.”

But Harper’s comments the night of the dust-up are recorded; his later explanation came in a signed statement.

This is actually the second time Harper has been subject of scrutiny by the Ethics Committee. But unlike this time, the 2006 complaint that alleged Harper misused his subpoena power was dismissed without further investigation.

Prior to that, the last Ethics Committee inquiry was in 1993.

Tibshraeny, who chairs the panel, said the committee should hear from both Harper and Sen. Ken Cheuvront, D-Phoenix, about the events of June 27. He said questions  which have to be answered under oath  likely would include Harper’s two explanations.

Tibshraeny said he does not know yet whether others would be called as witnesses.

On the evening in question, Cheuvront was asking Sen. Paula Aboud, D-Tucson, a series of questions about a tax measure being debated.

But the real aim of the pair, both of whom are openly gay, was to delay the Senate from moving on to another measure, this one to ask voters to decide whether to constitutionally define marriage in Arizona as between one man and one woman. Supporters of that measure had the bare minimum 16 votes for approval, meaning if one grew tired and left, the proposal would die.

Harper, who was sitting in the chair for the Senate floor debate  formally known as Committee of the Whole  interrupted the dialog between Cheuvront and Aboud, turned off their microphones.

“I clicked on the wrong thing,” he said at the time. “I clicked on the ‘clear mics’ (button).”

But rather than turning the floor back to the pair, he instead recognized Senate Majority Leader Thayer Verschoor, R-Gilbert, who moved to table further debate, paving the way for the gay marriage vote.

And Harper ignored various clearly legible calls for a “point of order,” which is supposed to stop all action.

Cheuvront, in his complaint, said that violates Senate rules. He wants the committee to recommend  and the full Senate to approve  a formal reprimand.

Harper, in his formal response, said his actions were no accident.

“After witnessing the transparently dilatory questioning that transpired between the two, I cleared the microphones and asked those who wished to speak to register their request,” he wrote. It was at that point he recognized Verschoor rather than either Aboud or Cheuvront.

Sen. Barbara Leff, R-Paradise Valley, voted to dismiss the complaint, saying Harper’s actions could just have been a mistake.

“There is a difference between not knowing how to run the Committee of the Whole properly and an actual, purposeful ethics issue,” she said. And Sen. Robert Blendu, R-Litchfield Park, said he saw nothing in Harper’s actions that showed any intent to violate ethics rules.

“Do we give people the benefit of the doubt?” Blendu asked.

But Miranda said that, if nothing else, Harper needs to be given the opportunity to reconcile, under oath, his two statements of why he did what he did.

Blendu said there was an offer at the time of the incident “to do a redo and let them start over again,” restoring the debate.

But neither Tibshraeny nor Senate Minority Leader Marsha Arzberger, D-Willcox, recalled such an offer. And Senate staff attorney Joni Hoffman said that night that Harper had acted improperly in cutting off debate but that it was procedurally too late to go back and undo the damage.

Cheuvront said he did not include Verschoor in the complaint “because I cannot prove what he did was malicious.”