What’s happening with our elected officials?
We’ve got one who just pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and one who’s being tried for fraud, forgery, and so much more.
After two years of proclaiming that he did nothing wrong and casting blame on his victim, David Baskett, a former longtime Santa Maria Public Airport District board member and current Santa Maria Joint Union High School District board member, decided to make a deal in light of new evidence.
But the 83-year-old man was only charged with a misdemeanor and sentenced to a year of probation for taking the life of someone half his age when he pulled a forklift out onto Skyway Drive with the forks 4 feet off the ground—that’s 4 feet higher than they should have been. The prosecutor didn’t mince words about Baskett’s actions throughout the case and what he originally told Santa Maria Police Department officers.
“The defendant intentionally provided false information to SMPD at the time of the crash,” Santa Barbara County Deputy District Attorney Ryan Clausen wrote in court documents.
A few seconds before the deadly crash, a Chumash Casino Resort bus video captured the forklift and had to swerve to avoid it.
“When you compare the location of the forklift in the video to the location where the defendant positioned it for SMPD’s photographs and measurements, the forklift was clearly positioned by defendant farther back from the roadway than it had actually been at the time of impact,” Clausen argued in court.
That’s a lot of nerve. And that nerve will still be able to make decisions about high school education in Santa Maria, as a misdemeanor isn’t enough of a crime to lose your spot as an elected official. And that nerve is still embroiled in a lawsuit with the airport after its actions in response to the deadly accident, which Baskett said violated his rights. His rights?!
In Lompoc, City Councilmember Steve Bridge seemed to think he had the right to city rebates—so much so that he allegedly falsified receipts and fraudulently used a contracting company’s name and license number to get those rebates. And then supposedly admitted to it when talking to the District Attorney’s Office about the whole thing.
“Bridge knew that the work needed to be performed by a licensed contractor, and he knew that had not occurred,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Brian Cota wrote in court docs. “He further acknowledged that ‘maybe that’s fraud’ and that it was ‘probably a little shady.’”
Apparently, Bridge said, verbatim: “They needed a receipt to document the work that was done, so I ginned that thing up.”
I don’t know why anyone would admit that to the office that’s going to prosecute them for a crime.
A “little” shady? Forgery, identity theft, fraud. Very shady.
And it’s a family affair! Bridge’s sons are also mired in the mess. And both are testifying as witnesses with the potential of self-incrimination, so they both got a limited immunity from a judge.
What’s happening?
“Bridge’s position as a council member placed him squarely within the class of officials ‘charged with’ responsibility over the public monies he misappropriated,” Cota wrote.
No kidding. And he’s also refused to step down. So, he’s still “charged” with responsibility.
The Canary is in charge of pointing talons. Send blame to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in April 2 – April 9, 2026.
