State Rep. Jarrod Martin, R-Beavercreek, said some fellow legislators have talked to him after drunk driving and child endangering charges against him were dropped in Jackson County.

“People have been congratulating me and stuff like that, but nobody’s offering me a committee chairmanship,” Martin said in his first public comments since prosecutors dropped the charges earlier this week.

Martin, who is serving his second term in the Ohio House and is running for re-election in a March 6 primary against three other Republicans, refused to bow to pressure from GOP leaders to resign his seat after the charges were brought against him. House Speaker William Batchelder in September stripped Martin of his chairmanship of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

“It’s the outcome that I think we were expecting the whole time,” Martin said. “Absolutely I would have liked them to wait until after (the outcome) to make any judgments, but life doesn’t necessarily work that way. So we’re going to deal with the cards we’re dealt and move forward.”

Martin was stopped in July by The Ohio Highway Patrol who said his pickup truck drifted left of center, and his trailer didn’t have taillights.

During the traffic stop, Martin refused to submit to sobriety tests, which resulted in an automatic one-year license suspension. Martin’s attorney, Charles Rowland II, said the Jackson County Municipal Court judge granted Martin work driving privileges and he is asking the court to restore Martin’s driver’s license.

Martin said he will plead guilty to a minor misdemeanor of a marked lanes violation to end the incident.

That incident wasn’t the first time Martin had crossed paths with law enforcement. State troopers were called to a downtown Columbus parking garage in March 2010 when Martin allegedly was found passed out drunk on the hood of Batchelder’s car, though Martin was not arrested or ticketed in that incident.

Now representing the 70th district, Martin hopes to be re-elected to represent the new 73rd district. He’s being challenged in the GOP primary by Greene County Commissioner Rick Perales, attorney John Langenderfer and Greene County Sheriff’s Capt. Eric Spicer.

“I’m very proud of my voting record and the things I’ve done and worked on in the General Assembly and I’ll talk about those with people all day long,” Martin said, adding that the top issue is the economy.

“They need to make the case as to how they would vote differently and what’s wrong with my voting record that I need to be replaced.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-6951 or mgokavi@DaytonDailyNews.com.