LISBON — Columbiana County Democrat Party Chairman Charley Kidder entered a not guilty plea Tuesday in county Municipal Court to operating a vehicle impaired second offense.

Kidder, 48, Lisbon, was also charged with OVI breath, allegedly testing at 0.158 for blood alcohol concentration during a breath test. A pretrial suspension of his driver’s license was imposed. No date has been set for a pretrial, with appointment of a visiting judge pending by the Ohio Supreme Court. Both Judge Kelly Linger and Judge Tim McNicol recused themselves from hearing the case due to conflicts of interest. Kidder works as a local defense attorney.

This isn’t the first time Kidder was charged with OVI. In 2019, he was charged with OVI and other charges after reportedly crashing his vehicle into a utility pole in Lisbon. Visiting Judge David Stucki found him guilty after he pleaded no contest to the OVI offense, with the other charges dismissed. The 2019 case was handled by a special prosecutor, besides the visiting judge.

Troy Barnett served as his attorney then and he’s serving as Kidder’s attorney now.

He filed an appeal of the administrative license suspension and filed a petition for limited driving privileges, both which remain pending until the appointment of a judge.

According to the citation, the more recent alleged OVI occurred at 10:20 p.m. March 6 on North Market Street in Lisbon near Pine Street.

Just last week, Kidder recited his oath of office as a new member of the county Board of Elections board, selected by members of the Democrat Party central committee.