Pursued by Fox 29, Goode aide goes racial
Latrice Bryant, an aide to Councilman Wilson Goode who once ran for state representative, responds to a television investigaiton
A top aide to City Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr., feeling "harassed" by a Fox 29 probe into her work hours, used Thursday's Council Meeting to label the television station and its top investigative reporter as racists.
As Council took up legislative business, Goode's chief legislative assistant, Latrice Bryant, held up notebook paper with crudely-drawn messages reading "Fox 29 Are Racist" and "Jeff Cole KKK" with one side bearing likeness of a hooded Klansman. Goode had his back to Bryant and later said he did not see the signs. Cole is a Fox reporter.
Bryant, who is African-American, also got in the face of a white Fox cameraman as she left Council chambers in the middle of the meeting.
Apparently Cole, who recently got a Water Department supervisor fired for cheating on his hours and time sheets, has turned his attention to Bryant, 36, a $90,000-a-year employee who has been with Goode since he took office in 2000. Cole, who is white, and a cameraman waited outside Council Chambers this morning trying to get a shot of Bryant. Cole later hurled questions at Goode as he left council chambers about his relationship with Bryant.
Bryant, who ran an unsuccessful primary race for the state House of Representatives in 2004, could not be immediately reached for comment. Goode said Cole has questioned the hours Bryant worked over a month in the summer, but he said he does not have a problem with Bryant's hours. He pointed out that he has a written policy requiring employees to work 7.5 hours a day unless excused.
"I believe that a staff person has felt harassed by Fox 29 and the way they have followed her in pursuit of a story," Goode said. Goode said Cole tried to "corner" Bryant outside Council chambers. He was shown on Fox 29's website telling Cole: "Don't you ever disrespect a black woman like that again."