He’s a vulgar, angry extremist. And now he has a seat on the Ceres City Council

Ceres leaders made a huge mistake appointing John Osgood to join them on the City Council.

It’s doubtful that the people of Ceres will benefit from someone as angry, condescending, bigoted, and foul-mouthed as Osgood until voters in the city’s southeast District 4 get a chance to replace him in elections next fall.

It’s a mystery how anyone like Osgood — who in a podcast called Councilman Bret Silveira a “power-hungry penis” and a “f---ing idiot,” and Councilwoman Linda Ryno the mayor’s “b----” — could even be considered a viable candidate.

In the same March 10 Forgotten Liberty Radio podcast, Osgood threatened Silveira with physical violence and referred to Ryno’s special education students as “the dumbest of the dumb.”

And now Osgood has joined them on the council, thanks to Tuesday’s 3-1 vote.

It’s as disappointing as it is unbelievable.

And it’s not like they didn’t know what they were getting. Osgood — an outspoken advocate for the State of Jefferson movement, including splitting California into smaller states — frequently attends council meetings and makes no secret of his disdain for various leaders.

While calling into a Feb. 22 meeting, Osgood angrily shouted that “this is a mobbed-up-ass council, and yes, that word is precise. You’re showing us all as taxpayers and residents of this city that you don’t give two s---- about us.”

Osgood, a truck driver, was worked up partly because council meetings then were held remotely because of a local surge in COVID-19 cases. Fatalities from the virus represented “not a huge number, people,” Osgood said, whining about the “tyranny” of public health orders.

The last thing we need is another elected official fighting against measures designed to fight a pandemic (a word Osgood mocks) that now has claimed 1,380 lives in Stanislaus County.

When Mayor Javier Lopez asked Osgood to refrain from cussing, Osgood retorted, “Whatever words you may not like, they’re words that even 5-year-olds are using.”

Not exactly a class act, this guy.

Osgood’s Forgotten Liberty rants are much worse. Among others from his March 10 show, when he referred to Silveira and Ryno as “two morons”:

• “Bret Silveira, if you ever tell the city clerk to cut me off (while addressing the council) again, I’ll come down there and punch you in the throat, b----.”
• “(Ryno) is teaching the dumbest of the dumb at Ceres High, and she’s as dumb as they are.”
• “There is no reason for me a constituent, a voter in Ceres, to show her any respect in her government capacity. ... She is my insubordinate subordinate. (Referring to the mayor), Linda is his subordinate. She’s his b----.”
• “If you can’t handle me over the phone, you can’t handle me in person. I would not sit quietly and say, `Neither of you declared a conflict of interest?’ Get the f--- out of here.”

It’s hard to understand how Lopez, Councilman Jim Casey, and especially Ryno agreed to have Osgood join them on the dais in Ceres, just south of Modesto.

Buckle up, Ceres, until fall 2022

In a Thursday telephone interview, Mayor Javier Lopez said he cast the deciding vote because he was desperate to avoid stalemates that kept the council from adding another council member earlier this year. The embarrassing logjam forced Ceres to hold a rare special election seating Casey, and Lopez said he was determined not to suffer through another.

The council might have appointed Daniel Martinez, a planning commissioner, but deadlocked on his nomination. Lopez said he felt he had no choice but to give Osgood a chance, knowing he might serve only until the November 2022 election.

“When he’s not screaming and hollering, there have been times when (Osgood) has made great points and brought up great ideas,” Lopez said. “And I will give him this much: He apologized to me for some things he said. It takes a lot, in my opinion, to come and apologize.”

That’s big of the mayor.

But anyone so filled with small-minded hatred, like Osgood, has no business leading others.