Goode aide apologizes in Fox29 flap

Latrice Bryant, the embattled senior legislative aide to Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr., went on television yesterday to apologize for flashing signs during a City Council meeting that accused Fox 29 television of racism.

"I think I just lost it," Bryant told NBC10 reporter Harry Hairston yesterday in her first interview since a Fox 29 investigation showed discrepancies in her time sheets and the hours she worked during 10 days in the summer.

It was Bryant's reaction to the investigation, and what she described as harassment by Fox 29 camera crews, that first drew attention. While Fox was taping Bryant in Council chambers on Sept. 18, she held up signs accusing the station of being racist and comparing reporter Jeff Cole, who is white, to the Ku Klux Klan.

"I apologize for the signs," Bryant said, adding that Cole and crew had gone to her house and her parents' house, and had called her repeatedly.

Bryant defended her work habits, saying that she made mistakes on her time sheets but that she worked full hours on nine of the days that Fox questioned.

In an Oct. 10 letter to City Controller Alan Butkovitz, Bryant said there was only one day, July 1, in which she worked less than seven hours. She requested that Butkovitz accept 2.5 hours of vacation time for that day.

Butkovitz had demanded that Bryant pay for 20 hours, but it was Goode who paid the $836.35 bill. Bryant sent a letter apologizing for her mistakes but otherwise denying that she owed the city anything.

"The basic thrust of her argument was: This must be somebody else's fault," Butkovitz said yesterday.

"She does not take responsibility, but it is her fault" for filling out incorrect time sheets, Butkovitz said.

Bryant's $90,000 salary has raised eyebrows, particularly in light of her relationship with Goode after photos of the two vacationing together in Jamaica were shown on Fox 29.

Of her relationship with Goode, her salary, and the $17,800 in raises she has received since January, Bryant said, "I do the job of three people."

"The councilman and I have a very friendly and professional relationship, but I would like to note that both the councilman and I are both single," Bryant said. She denied that there was a romantic relationship "because we are professional. What we do at work is very professional."

Goode has denied having a current romantic relationship with Bryant but has declined to comment on their past. There are no city rules against employees having romantic involvements with subordinates.