ST. PAUL (AP) – Republican state senators filed an ethics complaint last week against Democratic Majority Leader Dean Johnson, assuring the controversy over his same-sex marriage comments won’t fade anytime soon.

Sens. Claire Robling of Jordan and Mike McGinn of Eagan delivered the complaint early last week to Johnson of Willmar.

“Because we understand that if we do nothing we are giving tacit approval of unethical conduct, we believe further investigation is necessary,” the Republican senators said in a news release.

Johnson declined to comment at the time.

But on March 24, a Senate ethics subcommittee said it would dismiss the complaint after Johnson apologizes on the Senate floor. Johnson also must give a written apology to the people who convened a January meeting where he made his original remarks.

“I’m glad it’s over,” Johnson said after the subcommittee meeting. “It’s behind us.”

Ethics complaints in the Legislature are rare. They are typically decided by special panels with equal representation from Democrats and Republicans. If the committee decides an ethical breach occurred, it has wide latitude in deciding a punishment.

The furor stems from comments Johnson made to a group of pastors at the January meeting in Spicer. The Senate’s top Democrat acknowledged he “embellished” comments about the Minnesota Supreme Court and apologized, but stopped short of saying he lied when he said he had assurances from justices that the high court wouldn’t overturn a state law defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. He characterized his statements as “sanding off the truth.”

“I embellished it. I did. And it’s wrong,” he said at a news conference in his office.

He added: “I apologize to all of you and to the people of this state. I made a mistake.”

Opponents of same-sex marriage want to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex unions, and they see Johnson as a key roadblock. Last week, Minnesota for Marriage – a group pushing for the constitutional amendment – released a tape recording of Johnson’s comments, made by a minister at the meeting of the New London-Spicer Ministerial Association without Johnson’s knowledge.

The Republican Party then unveiled a radio ad – featuring a snippet of Johnson speaking on the tape – that will air in the senator’s district and the Twin Cities.

GOP chair Ron Carey read a dictionary definition of the word “lie” at a Capitol news conference before playing the radio ad, which says, “Dean Johnson isn’t being honest.”

Carey suggested unseating Johnson could become a top GOP priority in the November election. He also said the controversy could help the effort to enshrine a ban on same-sex marriage in the constitution.

“It can only help the chances that this will come before voters in November,” Carey said.

Johnson attributed the timing of the tape’s release to the same-sex marriage debate, saying the supporters of a constitutional amendment were trying to put him under pressure and embarrass him. But he stuck to his position, saying the bill will get a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee and beyond that, he can’t predict what will happen to it.

The flap over Johnson’s comments have given those on both sides of the same-sex marriage ban a new flash point. Another group called Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage called on Johnson to resign – which the Senate majority leader said he’s not planning to do.

“It’s gone both ways. It’s energized those people but it’s also energized the other side like I’ve not seen – the phone calls and the e-mails and the folks who are saying no we do not want to put this into the constitution,” Johnson said.

The brouhaha – and the fact that Johnson was secretly taped – has been on the minds of many opponents of the amendment, said Ann DeGroot, who heads Out Front Minnesota, a gay rights group.

“People who are opposed see this taping of Senator Johnson’s conversation and things like that really as a political ploy just to divide people more and more, which is what the constitutional amendment is about,” she said.

The DFL-controlled Senate has never taken a direct vote on the constitutional amendment, but it was approved by the Republican-controlled House last year. There are no pending cases on the issue of same-sex marriage before the Supreme Court.

House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, said he didn’t want to comment on Johnson’s actions. But he said the senator could easily make the entire controversy disappear.

“The whole thing would go away – the whole issue would go away if the Senate would just vote. Just vote,” Sviggum said. “All they need to do is vote. You don’t need to do any more rationalizations, any more covering their butt if they’d just vote.”