Goode aide calls Fox 29 probe racist

A top aide to City Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr., feeling "harassed" by a Fox 29 probe into her work hours, used yesterday's Council meeting to label the television station and its top investigative reporter racist.

As Council took up legislative business, Goode's chief legislative assistant, Latrice Bryant, held up notebook paper with handwritten messages reading, "Fox 29 are racist" and "Jeff Cole KKK." Cole is a Fox reporter.

Bryant, who is African American, also got in the face of a white Fox cameraman, berating him for following her, as she left Council chambers in the middle of the meeting.

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 yesterday morning, trying to speak to Bryant on camera.

Goode later said Cole had tried to "corner" Bryant outside the chambers. Fox 29's Web site showed him telling Cole: "Don't you ever disrespect a black woman like that again."

Bryant, who ran an unsuccessful primary race for the state House in 2004, did not respond to requests for comment.

Goode said Cole had questioned the hours that Bryant worked over a month in the summer. Goode said Bryant and other employees didn't always fill out time sheets daily, but filled them in later and were prone to making mistakes. Still, Goode said, he does not have a problem with Bryant's hours, and pointed out that he has a written policy requiring employees to work 71/2 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. He would not comment on whether Bryant's actions were appropriate or on the basis for the racist allegations.

"I have addressed that situation," Goode said.

A Fox 29 spokeswoman said: "We want to thank City Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr. for bringing attention to our investigative report on what's really going inside City Council offices tonight on Fox 29 News at Five."