Political history was made during the public comment period at the Lompoc City Council meeting on Dec. 2. It wasn’t the kind of history any city would be proud of.
I have been commenting on the political scene in Lompoc for more than three decades in various publications. During this time, there have been numerous incidents of political miscalculation, some questionable actions taken by council members, some fines issued by the Fair Political Practices Commission, and many rumors of backdoor deals.
But I have never witnessed three elected officials accused of wrongdoing by the public during a council meeting or a council member being charged with eight felonies by the district attorney for either crimes committed in office or as part of their private business dealings.
A couple of weeks ago, a Santa Maria Sun headline read, “Santa Barbara County District Attorney charges Lompoc council member with eight felonies” (Nov. 27); the same report appeared in many other local publications. As I continued reading, it turned out to be newly elected Steve Bridge who represents my area of town—could the eight felony allegations be true?
Noozhawk reported that “Bridge allegedly committed grand theft of personal property from the city of Lompoc in March 2024 (in the amount of $5,076.66) and again in March 2025 (in the amount of $4,917), according to the criminal complaint,” (“Colleague Urges Lompoc Councilman Steve Bridge to Resign Amid Criminal Charges,” Nov. 24).
Other charges included, according to the DA complaint, an “intent to defraud, falsely make, alter, forge and counterfeit, utter, publish, pass and attempt to offer to pass, as true and genuine” several other documents that contained false information.
While everyone is entitled to a fair trial and all are considered innocent until they are found guilty, we can’t avoid noting that all these charges were based on public records filed by Mr. Bridge.
According to a Dec. 3 report by KSBY, at the end of the council meeting Bridge said he planned to plead not guilty saying, “I will be appearing in court on Dec. 4, 2025, and entering a ‘not guilty’ plea to all charges because I have not committed any crime. I’m confident that through the court process, I will be found not guilty,” (“Lompoc City Council member addresses felony charges amid community backlash”).
During the Dec. 2 meeting, another complaint was lodged against Mayor Jim Mosby. He was filmed confronting a street vendor while in camouflage clothing for an alleged permit violation. The mayor’s primary function is to facilitate public meetings of the council, represent the city at various regional meetings, and provide directions to the city staff. They don’t include code enforcement; this matter is best left to the professionals on city staff.
The last complaint was against Councilman Jeremy Ball, who was accused of accepting a gift greater than allowed by the Fair Political Practices Commission. This issue is being addressed by the commission.
It will take several months to sort out all of Councilmember Bridge’s issues in court, but if found guilty of these charges it won’t help make “Lompoc a city we can all be proud of” as he proclaimed was his goal in his voter guide comments.
One member of the public stated that Bridge is a “dues paying member” of the Democrat Club and suggested that he resign from office to help restore confidence in the City Council and run for election again if found innocent. This was a reasonable request.
If he remains in office, and the mayor doesn’t quit playing vigilante, we are left with a City Council that has been damaged by these allegations. In the current climate of divisive politics, those kinds of allegations tend to underscore voters’ mistrust of elected officials, even if they personally weren’t associated with the alleged bad conduct.
Lompoc needs reliable, law-abiding leadership, otherwise we will always be considered “the armpit of the county,” as Congressman Carbajal has said in the past.
This isn’t Compton: The citizens of Lompoc deserve leaders they can trust.
Ron Fink writes to the Sun from Lompoc. Send a letter for publication to letters@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 11 – Dec 18, 2025.