![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Terry-Miller.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n“With the continued debate regarding my service as\nChairman, it is clear to me that we as an organization are distracted from our\nfundamental mission: electing Republicans. As we strive to unify our party\nafter a tumultuous special election for our Congressional seat, it is becoming\napparent that this issue continues to drive a wedge into our party,”\nMiller said in a statement to members of the committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Committee Vice-Chairman Chuck Quackenbush will act as interim chairman. Under the committee’s constitution, a special election to fill the vacancy must be called within 60 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an email, Quackenbush said there was no discussion\namongst committee leadership of having Miller resign “until after he made\nhis decision to resign.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this year, some Southwest Florida Republicans\nquestioned Miller’s ability to remain neutral in helping elect Republicans when\nhe was representing specific ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV and former state Rep. Trudi\nWilliams called for Miller’s resignation from the committee because of the\nperceived conflict of interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In March, Miller said he had no intention of resigning and\ncommittee leaders knew of his consulting work before he was elected unanimously\nto the chairmanship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday, Mack said he was glad Miller stepped down after\nactions he believes were “clearly unethical.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I think it kind of lifts the cloud that was hanging\nover the party,” Mack said. “He couldn’t stay in the position and do\nit all because of the conflicts of interest.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The special election for Miller’s successor will be\nimportant for Lee County Republicans to regroup, Mack said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It should be a very open and transparent process, so\nthe party can get back to what the party is supposed to, which is register\nvoters with the Republican Party and get them out to vote for our\ncandidates,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Miller’s term would have run through December, and he had\nannounced he wouldn’t run for re-election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Miller’s full statement:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dear REC Membership,<\/p>\n\n\n\n As many of you know, there has been an ongoing issue regarding\nmy service as REC Chairman and my professional life as a campaign consultant.\nWith the continued debate regarding my service as Chairman, it is clear to me\nthat we as an organization are distracted from our fundamental mission:\nelecting Republicans. As we strive to unify our party after a tumultuous\nspecial election for our Congressional seat, it is becoming apparent that this\nissue continues to drive a wedge into our party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, I have decided to resign my chairmanship\neffective immediately. I have always strived to put the party first and\nalthough my professional life does not create any conflicts, it clearly has\nbecome a distraction when our focus should be on reelecting our Governor and\nmaintaining our Republican majority in Lee County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pursuant to our Article IV Section 5 of our County Model\nConstitution, Vice Chairman Chuck Quackenbush will assume the role as interim\nchairman and must call a special election to fill the vacancy within 60 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is my hope with this distraction removed from the\nequation, that we can all work together and support our fellow Republicans. It\nhas been my honor to serve as your chairman and I sincerely thank you for that\nopportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sincerely,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Terry Miller<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The resignation came in the wake of controversy over Miller’s work as a campaign consultant through his company, TM Strategic Consulting Services. He has represented Republican state Reps. Matt Caldwell… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":45127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45126"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}