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Jeff Bergosh

4 bytes added, 20:18, 25 November 2007
Restoring "Godzilla controversy" heading
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.<ref>"Escambia County School Board." ''Pensacola News Journal'', September 6, 2006.</ref>
==PNJ Forum Incident"Godzilla" controversy==
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]] forums 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 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>