Brian Miller may be still the chairman of the Pima GOP, but he's without the keys to his kingdom.

Or a checkbook.

And the party's ordered him not to speak in public.

The Pima County Republican Party's executive committee told Miller on Thursday night to stop speaking for the party, to return its checkbook and credit cards, not enter into contracts, and to return the keys to party headquarters. Party leaders voted 10-2 on the resolution.

The move effectively ends—at least for the moment—Miller's leadership of the county party, although he refuses to resign.

Instead, he quoted John Belushi's Bluto from "Animal House" in a statement posted on Facebook: "What? Over? Did you say 'over'? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!"

"They asked for my resignation on grounds that it is the right thing to do for the party because... well, because they say so. I declined," Miller wrote.

Miller asked party members for support on the social networking website.

The move is "a political witchhunt," he said in an interview Friday morning, saying "there's no room for differing views" in the Republican Party.

The call for his resignation is a way of "avenging old political scores," Miller said

Calls to other Republican officials were not immediately returned Friday morning.

Before taking the chairmanship in December, Miller sought the GOP nomination in the CD 8 race. He received 7 percent of the vote, even though he had withdrawn and endorsed Jonathan Paton days prior to the August vote. The primary nod went to Jesse Kelly, who lost a close race to incumbent Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Miller, a pilot in the Air Force Reserve, has caught flak from some Republicans for supporting a military withdrawal from Afghanistan, and for saying that laws prohibiting demonstrations outside funerals abridge free speech.

The party has fractured over Miller's statements critical of police tactics in the May 5 SWAT raid that killed ex-Marine Joe Guerena.

The county chair sent out an official GOP email in May titled "We are all Jose Guerena," writing "It is my hope that this tragic event will lead to a renewed discussion of the policies that routinely lead to heavily armed and militarized local police invading private homes and a renewed interest in the civil liberties codified in our Bill of Rights."

Last month, the party forced Miller to retract a statement on a radio talk show calling Guerena's death "murder."

"It was never my intention to besmirch those officers, and it is my understanding that they were, indeed, following the procedures they were given," Miller wrote in a June 3 email.

"Their job is to follow established policies, protocols and guidelines they have been given," Miller wrote. "My concern is with the policies themselves, and whether or not there are better ways for law enforcement, not only here in Pima County but throughout the United States, to conduct themselves so as to minimize risk to the officers, suspects and innocent civilians who may be caught up in police actions."

Miller wouldn't comment on the Guerena incident Friday, calling it "water under the bridge" as a party issue. "I think we've addressed that," he said.

Miller "has made numerous public statements and comments indicating a distrust of Pima County and Tucson law enforcement agencies," the GOP's executive committee said in an email Friday morning.

"The misimpression created by Brian Miller, the current Chair of the County Committee, is not the policy of the County Committee and is in no manner adopted by the Executive Committee," said a resolution passed by the Republicans.

"Police militarization is not new, but difficult to discuss publicly," Miller said on Facebook on May 15. "LE is like the military: when u criticize policy, u r tagged "unpatriotic" / "weak on crime". Since I've gone from "unpatriotic" / "treasonous" last year to "courageous" / "principled" this year on Afghan conflict, I may as well dive into this can of worms that PCSD has opened." (...)