Jeff Bergosh

Jeff Bergosh is the Escambia County School Board representative for District 1. He was elected in 2006, filling the seat vacated by his brother Gary Bergosh, who was elected to a judgeship. He came under fire in 2007 for posting comments on the pnj.com messageboards using a pseudonym. Bergosh's posts were mostly centered on defending the quality of education in the Escambia County public schools. Some of the posts were critical of opponents, and in one post out of 135 total Bergosh named himself in the third person.

Bergosh and his wife Sally have three children: Tori, Nicholas and Brandon.

Education & career

Bergosh received an associates of arts degree from Grossmont College in 1990 and a B.A. from San Diego State University in 1994. Before entering politics, Bergosh had a ten-year career as a facilities management specialist, including about 1 1/2 years at Naval Air Station Pensacola.

When his brother decided not to seek reelection, Bergosh said he was asked by Superintendent Jim Paul to seek the office. He was elected on September 5, 2006 with 5,110 votes — about twice as many as his closest rival, Todd Leonard.

"Godzilla" scandal

On October 4, 2007, the Pensacola News Journal published an article by reporter Sara Rabb that revealed Bergosh had been posting comments on pnj.com under the pseudonym "Godzilla." Confronted by Rabb, Bergosh denied being Godzilla. Facing the fact that the PNJ had utilized their own internal IT information to learn the true identity of Godzilla, an "off the record" admission was given to Rabb. Against Bergosh's wishes, Rabb and the PNJ ran with the story and were criticized heavily for doing so. . He finally confirmed the online identity during an October 8 "IN Your Head Radio" interview on AM 1620.

Bergosh was criticized for a number of the comments he made as Godzilla. Among his posts were claims that schools in the predominantly black District 3 were a "drag" on the rest of the system, and he suggested that governments should "do away with compulsory education beyond grade 8. … Build more prisons and get ready for the influx, but let's keep school a positive environment for students who WANT to come to school!!" He was critical of teachers' unions for "roadblocking districts every step of the way" and even praised himself in the third person during a debate over merit pay for teachers: "I know we can count on Board member Bergosh to be there and vote to keep the bonus money here in Pensacola. I know he is not going to genuflect, bow down and kiss the union ring, and give the union what they want." When the School Board voted 4-1 against the existing merit pay plan, Godzilla said he could hear their "spines breaking in unison."

Andy Marlette's cartoon & winning caption

Bergosh's cartoon response

Bergosh accused the News Journal of "outing" his identity on what he had believed was a safe outlet for anonymous opinion: "When the Pensacola News Journal created an anonymous forum, encouraging the use of pseudonyms, as to let people take down their guards and speaking in a frank manner regarding political ideas and thoughts, I jumped at the opportunity." The publication pointed out that their website's terms of use reserved "the right to identify you as the author of any of your postings or submissions by name, email address or screen name, as we deem appropriate." Bergosh asserted that he "never divulged any 'in-house' secrets or committed ANY crime" and that the left-leaning newspaper had engaged in "yellow journalism" as retribution for his conservative opinions, prompting him to "fight for my right to freedom of speech."

Hostilities continued when the News Journal held a contest asking readers to submit captions for a cartoon of Bergosh wearing a Godzilla costume. (The winning caption said, "All the School Board costumes were taken!") Bergosh countered by offering alternate captions critical of the newspaper's online policy (for example, "Deception is at the core of 'anonymous' blogs!!") and drawing a caricature of editor Dick Schneider:

These PNJ guys have had me on the front page twice, 4 editorials, and the “cartoon” has been up for 2 weeks!! These guys have given me more coverage this last month than Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, or their #1 hero, Al Gore, inventor of the internet and recent Nobel Peace Prize winner!! What a strange October this has been!! … So I put together my own little “cartoon contest”— knowing I have nowhere near the resources, time, nor the “need” to create news at the level of the PNJ. But, this is still rather humorous, in my opinion. I asked around town, at the Waterfront Rescue Mission, at UWF, At Happy Hour, and at my Mensa club meeting-- and came up with quite a few ideas for the caption, with the one in the final cartoon being deemed “the winner.”

His cartoon depicted Schneider outside a "House of Voodoo" sticking pins into a Godzilla doll and yelling, "MOMMY!! Your dumb idea is not WORKING!!"