Fox 29 photo of Latrice Bryant holding up a sign during a council meeting

Am I missing someting? Why does Philadelphia Councilman Wilson Goode Jr. and his legislative aide Latrice Bryant keep injecting race into this mini controversy over her time card. This should be a “petty story” as Goode described it yesterday to reporters, but he and Bryant are the ones who are making this a bigger story.

If you haven’t been following the city hall drama, here’s the quick version. Local TV station Fox29 does one of those gotcha reports on city employees snoozing on the job. The target of the report is Latrice Bryant, an African-American aide to a Philadelphia councilman who is also African-American. The TV reporter, Jeff Cole, who is white, confronts her last week with the allegation she’s logging more hours than she’s working. Bryant escapes into a city hall office but later during the council’s regular meeting, she holds up hand written signs saying “Jeff Cole KKK” (Cole is the TV reporter who is white) and another sign “Fox29 are racist.” Then yesterday, Goode blasted the media for not having enough minorities in the newsroom.

So again, Councilman Goode: Why do you keep bringing up race? The truth is I do think the time card story is petty, but now I’m hooked on this. Explain to us how Fox29 is being racist?

Updated 8:45am - fyi: Just saw this Fox29 video of Claudia Gomez chasing Wilson Goode Jr. in City Hall peppering him with questions about Latrice Bryant. It’s pretty entertaining. A big guy, who is with Goode, keeps trying to block her. There’s even a point where Gomez claims this guy slapped her.