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Monday, October 6, 2008

Questions About Goode & Aide Dominate Nutter News Conference
The Committee of 70 wants Council's ethics committee to investigate the relationship between Goode and Bryant. (Photos courtesy: myfoxphilly.com)

A call from the Committee of 70 for City Council to investigate one of its own members overtook a press conference today where Mayor Nutter introduced his new task force on ethics and campaign finance reform.  Nutter, with the nine task force members behind him, repeatedly refused to take a position on Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr.'s relationship with his controversial chief legislative aide, Latrice Bryant.  Council President Anna Verna would not say if she would convene the Committee on Ethics to investigate that relationship.

Bryant burst into the news on Sept. 18 when she held up signs in Council calling Fox 29 News racist for investigating whether she was attending to personal issues while logged in as working at her $90,000-a-year job.  The station took it a step further last week, broadcasting photographs of Goode and Bryant looking cozy while on a 2005 vacation in Jamaica.  Goode has said a problem with hour Bryant's hours were logged has been fixed.  He has also said he has only a "social relationship" with Bryant and declined to comment on the photos.

Pressed to take a position, Nutter said: "I don't think there is anything I can do about a staff person in a separate branch of government or about another elected official."  Nutter added that while he had seen some of the reporting on Bryant he didn't have all the facts to make judgment.

Verna at first refused to say if she would convene Council's Committee on Ethics but then partly relented, adding, "We will definitely look into it. I will talk to [Council's] leadership and see which direction they would like to go."  Verna also acknowledged that Council rarely takes such action.  "I can't remember the last time that Council ever investigated one of their own," Verna said.

And there is the problem, said Zack Stalberg, president and CEO of the Committee of 70.  "There are 16 other members of City Council who can and should have a point of view on this," he said. "They're choosing a cowardly way out, which is to stay away from it all."
Posted by Chris Brennan @ 4:30 PM  Permalink | 80 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:52 PM, 10/06/2008
    What's the matter...the rest of City Council have the same thing going on in their own offices that they are afraid that they will be exposed too????? LOL!!!! This City is a JOKE!!!
    — flyersgal517
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:21 PM, 10/06/2008
    As a New Yorker from Philly, it's comical to see these things still going on in Philadelphia politics. That city is a laughingstock.
    — Scrumptious
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:38 PM, 10/06/2008
    Why hasn't this women been fired yet???
    — ohboy
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:42 PM, 10/06/2008
    because no one from philly or any other city for that matter, can fire a black woman.
    — Scrumptious
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:50 PM, 10/06/2008
    Our city council is the worst in the history of the free world. Its a political nightmare.
    — lafferty
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:53 PM, 10/06/2008
    Nutter is just another Dem pol joke just like the rest of the city it seems, it's dissappointing, meanwhile we want to elect a chicago pol as president?!?! Do we want to see the entire country look like this?
    — dan19148
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:58 PM, 10/06/2008
    "I can't remember the last time that Council ever investigated one of their own," Verna said. as if their morals have been so above standard that they never needed an investigation...what a shame
    — gigglespaisano
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:01 PM, 10/06/2008
    it's not just philly, and it's not just black, white, democrat, republican....everyone if effed up.
    — beezer77
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:07 PM, 10/06/2008
    AH!!! what happened to my beloved philadelphia(west philadelphia high school: class of 1969) the inmates are running the asylum. that's another reason i moved away/out of philadelphia 10 years ago. the unprofessional behavior is shameful. philadelphia has turned into a third world dictatorship. poverty, poor schools, unsafe neighborhoods, no tax base and no industry. the folks that are gentrifying philadelphia need to run for political office. PLEASE SAVE MY BELOVED PHILADELPHIA FROM THE HOOD. THANK YOU. where's mayor/police commisioner FRANK RIZZO WHEN WE NEED HIM!!!!
    — arizona
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:08 PM, 10/06/2008
    beisarius, by the look of things, Goode has "sacked" his aide on more than one occasion. flersgal, you are spot on -- they all prob have unqualified staff members who are over paid and wasting taxpayers money. I still would like to know why the city doesn't use electronic time clocks? Seems like a simple fix. And I really want to know what Ms. Bryant's qualifications are for this $90k a year job, and how her qualifications and pay compare to others in the same role. Why does it take City Council to investigate that? Don't we have a controller's office?
    — dankil13
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:09 PM, 10/06/2008
    where are all the liberal slobs now? a bunch of democrats playing graba** in council and the mayor and city council prez can't seem to want to do anything about it.
    — OgieOglethorpe
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:18 PM, 10/06/2008
    don't you ever disrespect a black mayor like that again!!
    — Bud Fox


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About The Philly Clout Team
PhillyClout
Chris Brennan, a native Philadelphian and graduate of Temple University, joined the Daily News in 1999. He has written about SEPTA, the Philadelphia School District, the legalization of casino gambling, state government, the mayor, the governor, City Council and political campaigns.
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics ­– which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Catherine Lucey joined the Daily News in 2002 and has written about murderous drug gangs, political protesters and Harry Potter. After covering the 2007 mayoral election, she moved over to the City Hall bureau where she has been reporting on the Nutter administration.
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans.
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