Changes

'''Jeff Bergosh''' is the [[Escambia County School Board]] representative for [[Escambia County District 1|District 1]]. He was elected in [[2006]], filling the seat vacated by his brother [[Gary Bergosh]], who won a [[Circuit Court]] judgeship in the same election. He came under fire by the local Newspaper in 2007 for posting comments on the [[pnj.com]] messageboards using the a pseudonym '''Godzilla'''. In over 100 anonymous posts to the website, Bergosh had defended the quality of Escambia County education, criticized his political opponents, and in one post praised himself in the third person.

Bergosh is a 1986 graduate of [[Pensacola High School]]. After high school, he moved out west to attend college, earning an Associates of Arts degree from Grossmont College (El Cajon, California) in 1990 and a B.A. from San Diego State University in 1994. Before entering politics, Bergosh had a ten-year career as a retail business operator and facilities management specialist, including about 1 1/2 years working at [[Naval Air Station Pensacola]].<ref name="lookingout">"District 1 candidates looking out for students." ''Pensacola News Journal'', August 18, 2006.</ref> When his brother decided not to seek reelection, Bergosh said he was asked by [[Escambia County Superintendent|Superintendent]] [[Jim Paul]] to seek the office.<ref name="lookingout"/> He was elected on [[September 5]], [[2006]] with 5,110 votes — about twice as many as his closest rival, [[Todd Leonard]].<ref>"Escambia County School Board." ''Pensacola News Journal'', September 6, 2006.</ref>

On [[October 4]], [[2007]], the ''[[Pensacola News Journal]]'' published an article by reporter [[Sara Rabb]] that revealed Bergosh had been posting comments on the Anonymous [[pnj.com]] under the pseudonym "[[Wikipedia:Godzilla|Godzilla]]." Rabb contends that she had noticed that "Godzilla's" posts were similar to the views expressed by Bergosh at School Board meetings, and she was able to confirm with the website's administrator that Bergosh's personal email address had been used to register the account. Rabb requested an interview with Bergosh on October 2, 2007, to discuss Teacher salaries and Merit Pay. At the interview, Rabb confronted Bergosh with the IT data from the PNJ and indicated that the PNJ wanted to run a story on this. Bergosh admitted , "off the record" to the persona when confronted by Rabb, but issued an official denial.<ref name="whois">"Who is schools' 'Godzilla?'" ''Pensacola News Journal'', October 4, 2007.</ref> Bergosh finally officially confirmed the online identity during an [[October 8]] "[[IN Your Head Radio]]" interview on [[AM 1620]].<ref>[http://ricksblog.biz/?p=2490 Bergosh=Godzilla]</ref>

Bergosh was criticized scrutinized in subsequent ''News Journal'' editorials for a number of the comments he made as Godzilla, which included:*a claim that schools in the lower-income [[Escambia County District 3|District 3]] were a statistical drag on the district's performance. This quote came from an online discussion comparing demographics of Escambia County with neighboring counties that do not contend with these same social issues. *a suggestion 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!!"<ref name="whois"/> This quote came from an online discussion regarding attendance issues among some Escambia County middle school students who had reached age 16, had not yet graduated 8th grade, did not want to be in school, and who were tremendous discipline problems.