Ceres Mayor Javier Lopez apparently didn’t appreciate former City Councilwoman Linda Ryno calling him out for the perceived hypocrisy about receiving taxpayer funded medical benefits. He hit back with an AI produced graphic for Instagram showing that Ryno also collected benefits during her term in office. The information he presented shows Ryno took $120,759.80 in city benefits between 2012 and 2022.
Ryno must have gotten under Lopez’s thin skin for he wrote on Instagram: “That is why I find the current criticism difficult to reconcile with the public record. If benefits were acceptable while serving on the City Council, why are they now being portrayed as unacceptable when others receive them?”
Did Ryno say they were unacceptable?
In my article last week, “Council cost taxpayers $213,066 in medical plan in 6 years,” Ryno freely admitted that she also accepted medical benefits from the city and also noted that she took heat from residents who didn’t think she should take those benefits. Ryno said the difference is: “We also weren’t looking at a six percent reserve, and we weren’t looking at laying off any employees. I’m so upset that they chose to lay off the parks worker … I mean if all of that was in front of me, I probably would say …I can’t in good conscience keep having the city pay for my medical, if we’re gonna get rid of an employee, and if we’re gonna cancel all these contracts. Things are a lot different than when I was on the game.”
Let’s review why Ryno dug up the information in the first place. For years nobody on the council was admitting to taking benefits as Councilwoman Cerina Otero has repeatedly asked the council to eliminate the benefits, an idea supported by Councilman James Casey. Three who continually opposed eliminating benefits have been Lopez, Vice Mayor Daniel Martinez (isn’t it time he shared the vice mayor title with someone else?) and Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra.
Lopez was mum for months until he turned to Casey at the June 8 council meeting and asked if Casey knew who on the council takes health insurance from the city.
“I have no idea,” admitted Casey. “All I know if it’s budgeted for $46,000. I have no idea who has the insurance and who doesn’t have insurance.”
Lopez then stated that he does not take health insurance from the city but will continue to support the concept for members who want it.
That sparked Ryno’s curiosity. Was Lopez taking benefits up to that point and dropped them this year and felt safe announcing that he wasn’t taking them? Apparently that was the case because it showed Lopez’s total benefits covered by taxpayers amounted to $47,152.56 from 2021 to the first half of this year. During both 2022 and 2023, Lopez received $17,640 in insurance premiums, and in 2024 and 2025 collected $1,362.84 each year. This year the expenses for the mayor dropped to $326.88.
The point that Ryno makes is she wanted to get the information out since “There was a lot of public comment on Facebook about who took benefits, and who didn’t... now everyone would know because it was public record. I’ve also never skirted the issue when I was on the council about taking benefits.”
Her other point is that the city is presently in dire straits, up against the wall budget wise and still the council holds a death grip on bennies while saying, ‘we have no money for a swim program at home, Trunk or Treat or costs toward the Christmas Festival.’
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One of the reasons that I was opposed to the city of Ceres forming council districts years ago – besides it unnecessary for a very small city the size of Ceres under 50,000 population – is that it would create a situation whereby a council person will prioritize the needs – or perceived needs of her district – over that of the entire community. That situation has manifested itself in Rosalinda Vierra who constantly speaks about serving those in her district. District 2 straddles both sides of the freeway but is mostly on the west side, which was developed in the 1990s as opposed to the “other Ceres” that developed beginning in the 1870s.
In addressing the idea of a moratorium on gasoline stations and car washes, Vierra seemed to be only concerned about District 2 when she cited what the west side wants or needs.
Keep in mind that there’s been commercial development on the west side, including a McDonalds, a Dollar General, a Mister Car Wash, a Dutch Bros, an auto parts store and let’s not forget there’s a gas station along Whitmore Avenue that been there for decades. And a rock throw from her district is all the services at the corner of Crows Landing and Whitmore Avenue.
District 2 is not an island unto itself. Anyone living in District 2 has complete access to the 17 or so gas stations just a short drive away in their city. Presently there are a Quick Stop and AM/PM gas station/convenience stores at the corner of Service and Morgan Roads. There is a Flyer’s gas station at Whitmore and Morgan. There is 76 gas station at the 7-Eleven at Whitmore and Blaker. And Vierra acts like there is no stations in District 2?
Vierra framed her opposition to a moratorium on car washes and gas stations as to what the folks who will live in homes that we have no idea when they will be built in Copper Trails and the West Landing area but keep in mind that moratoriums are only declared for 45 day periods at a time.
Council districts were formed because Latino groups complained that at-large districts were a disadvantage to the disadvantaged classes, which to me is such a racist concept to begin with. It assumed Latinos or any of the other minority classes could not compete with others.
Time and time again I’ve seen council persons who continually fight for their own district while expressing little concern about what goes on elsewhere. Councilmembers represent the whole city, not just a fourth of it. For example, in recent years you had James Casey fighting to get Lions Park on River Road completed in District 1, while Bret Silveira pushed for the completion of Guillermo Ochoa Park in his district. It creates a dog-eat-dog situation in which the most ferocious dog gets the bone and for that reason I have been opposed to council districts. Too late now.
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Speaking of Ochoa Park, lots of folks are upset that it is starting to look horrible. Get ready, folks, because this is just the beginning with cutbacks of government services in a state that gives crumbs to peon cities while they feed on bloating pension and spending programs.
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Gubernatorial candidate Javier Becerra shows his true colors when he makes speeches about the immigrant underclass. That is his ticket to power.
He recently put down establishment restaurants while embracing and promoting the street vendor as the only sources for a tasty street taco. He is another example of a politician pandering to the immigrant underclass class who comes to California – often illegally without any skills – and the only means of support is to sell tacos from a propane stove on the side of a dusty road. Hence, here in Stanislaus County there is an effort underway to get a handle on the pleathora of unlicensed and unsanitary food vendors.
Becerra said: “All I know is there’s real food in California and there’s real street tacos and you don’t get them in some establishment that’s been around for a long time. You get it from the street from the guy who’s been making it for a long time in his little cart.”
Brick-and-mortar Mexican restaurant owners blew a gasket – as they should. They’ve done things right by going to the expense and effort of jumping through government hoops to start a restaurant and they have a pandering politician slamming them for not offering authentic street tacos.
Spencer Pratt, the former LA mayoral candidate posted: “The next Governor of CA just told everyone to avoid CA Mexican restaurants like Tito’s Tacos and Don Antonio’s and instead go to an illegal street vendor who doesn’t pay taxes nor follow any health codes. And he thought ‘yeah let’s post that on main.’ CA is so screwed.”
It should be noted that Becerra’s pronunciation of tacos was in a thick Mexican accent to where it almost sounded like “da-co.”
This sort of ethnicity pandering was reflected recently when AOC flew to Memphis and poured on her black southern accent and suggested that she witnessed an America that once used fire hoses on black people in the streets. Sandy Ocasio was born in 1989 and raised in a Puerto Rican family in the Bronx for crying out loud.
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It would be nice for a change to have somebody run for governor and act like he cares about the taxpayer who’s been here a long time and tired of putting up with these policies of that make it nearly impossible to afford living here instead if catering to a population that in many cases doesn’t belong here and has no allegiance to the country other than the ability to tap into the economy of California and the nation.
Oh, wait, we do have somebody running for governor that cares about all Californians, not the border jumpers. His name: Steve Hilton and he knows how California has been screwed by the wacky forces at play.
We have borders for a reason. We have doors in our house for a reason. We have fences around our houses for a reason and that’s to keep out those we don’t want. There have been a lot of young Democrat socialists who don’t believe in the concept of a border. Yet the sanctity of their property is of course a time held tradition for security and peace and prosperity. None of us would want squatters on our front lawn for obvious reasons, but yet politicians threw down the doormat under the Biden administration to flood our country with folks who could care less about our history in our tradition, but only want to tap into the economic opportunities available here that are not available elsewhere. There are only so many people who can fit in a lifeboat before it sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
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Republicans have been expressing deep concern about election integrity for years and Democrats have been pushing back. So has the media with the tag line: there is no evidence of voter fraud.
Last week got that evidence of voter fraud. The governor of New Jersey state that non-citizens have been voting directly from a result of the motor-voter scheme. Even after answering ‘no’ when asked on a keypad whether they were a U.S. citizen when applying for drivers’ licenses and identification cards, the New Jersey department that handles voter registration put 6,600 of them on the voter rolls anyway. Four hundred of them did vote! This certainly could have affected the results of elections in smaller towns.
Gov. Mikie Sherill blamed the software company as the culprit and the company pushed back, saying it was the state that was responsible.
Any bets that the same issue has been going on in all states with motor-voter bills?
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This state Attorney General of ours, Rob Bonta is a piece of work. An overwhelming number of Californians want voter ID to not only ensure that all voters are legally entitled to do so but begin working toward confidence in elections.
Reform California was successful in collecting enough signatures to put Prop 39 on the ballot. Bonta had already provided a ballot title for Prop 39 in September of 2025. That original ballot title was on the initiative petitions signed by over 1.3 million California voters to force the bipartisan Voter ID initiative on the ballot this November. That title was when Bonta didn’t think the effort was going to get enough signatures to be placed on the ballot.
Titles matter. They are the first impression.
The original ballot title was: “ESTABLISHES ADDITIONAL VOTER IDENTIFICATION AND CITIZENSHIP VERIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.”
On July 21 Bonta changed it to: “PROHIBITS CITIZENS FROM VOTING UNLESS THEY PRESENT GOVERNMENT-ISSUED IDENTIFICATION.”
Which title sounds more threatening? There’s a difference with presentation.
As AGs, Bonta and Becerra have made this a common practice in an effort to quash initiatives they don’t want to see pass.
This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation. How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com
