ST. PAUL — A Minnesota senator faces an ethics complaint for a remark she posted on Twitter about a colleague.

Republican Sen. Gretchen Hoffman of Vergas posted the comment during a Senate debate Wednesday night as Democratic Sen. Barb Goodwin of Columbia Heights was talking about funding for mental health programs. Goodwin mentioned several now-discredited terms for mentally ill individuals.

Hoffman repeated Goodwin’s remarks on the social networking site in a way that suggested Goodwin had used the terms directly. A few minutes later, Goodwin rose again to angrily denounce Hoffman’s tweet and accused her of ignoring the original context. Hoffman refused to apologize.

On Friday, Democratic Sen. Ann Rest filed an ethics complaint saying Hoffman knowingly published a false statement about Goodwin. Hoffman says she’s still offended by Goodwin’s remarks but would not comment further until the Senate Ethics Committee reviews the complaint.