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to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.Latrice Bryant apologizes, but….
Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 6:45 am - by Matt Campbell. Filed under: Politics.
Fox 29 photo of Latrice Bryant holding her KKK sign
An aide to Philadelphia City Councilman Wilson Goode Jr. says she’s sorry for “inappropriate and inexcusable” behavior after she held up signs in a recent council meeting calling Fox29 racists.
The Philadelphia Daily News reports this morning that Latrice Bryant submitted her apology in written form to Councilman Goode. Bryant is the subject of a Fox29 series of reports looking into discrepancies into her timesheets. The TV station reported that she repeatedly claimed full days, but rolled video of her doing what appears to be non-work related activities. She denies that she defrauded the city in any manner.
Bryant, in her written statement, then goes on to attack Fox29 for “assaultive behavior,” and a note from her personal lawyer says she contacted him to see about whether there were grounds for a defamation lawsuit.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Way to go this woman really feels as it she was harassed. We should really look into why this woman felt like she has to hold up the cards and what the reporters did to her up to that day in council. Why were they taping her anyway?
September 29th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Way to go Ms. Bryant! Don’t let them bully you. This woman really feels as if she was harassed. We should really look into why this woman felt like she had to hold up the cards. What DID the reporters do to her up to that day in council. Why were they taping her anyway?
September 29th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Melissa, you need to wake up and smell the coffee. She is playing the part of the victim because she got busted. Jeff Cole has been doing this piece for a while now on public officials of all race/gender. For her to claim it is racial is ridiculous and is a sad attempt to deter the attention away from the fact that she is cheating myself an all the other taxpayers.
September 29th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
After reading the letter from her lawyer I am amazed by how little remorse she expresses for her actions. She does not apologise to Mr. Snow but hides behind innuendo which leads to the question is the sign she held up grounds for him to sue her - libel?
As she claims she holds 3 jobs - what are her contracted hours for those positions and does she do them?
Kuddos to her lawyer for writing a 2 page letter on a KKK sign without mentioning the KKK. Hopefully she will fully explain herself, as if the position was reversed, with a white holding a racist sign up…
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:29 pm
She was banging the boss and that gave her to ok to do what ever she wanted to do. That’s wrong and they both got what they deserved.
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Melissa is obviously either a friend or family member of Latrice’s or even Latrice herself.
Latrice Bryant and Goode Jr. should be investigated by the city, and also fired.
October 4th, 2008 at 11:18 am
she came through for me, and germantown. We had a vacant lot with cars, and weeds as tall as the cars. Drug dealers did their buisness there too. Well now kids play in a beautiful tree lined lot where it is safe and ratt free because of Latrice. If everthing is true about her; as a tax payer I certainly understand anyone who has a bad tast in their mouth over this, but we all can get ahead of ourselves at times. So maybe we as a city should use this exsposer of how things are out of control with our municable set up, and demand that it gets fixed. I mean signing in on a time sheet in 2008???? Philly overall needs to get with the program. Lets not Just take it out on her. its everywhere. THanks Chris C
October 4th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Where do we go from here? Officially Latrice has apologized for the KKK sign she held up during council. The city’s controller’s office sent her a bill for the 19 hours she wasn’t at work. My question that I’m still wrestling with is, will Fox29 ever be able to prove that she knowingly defrauded the city? Probably not. So then we’re left with an employee goofed up her timecard, and her boss says he won’t let it happen again. I personally don’t care whether the two are having a relationship or not. Although if they are It would be better if she wasn’t working in his office. That can really create problems with employees dealing with Latrice and the Council. i.e. if you do something that makes Latrice mad, even though you think it’s the right thing to do, are you then making enemies with Councilman Goode? Ok back to my point, of where do we go from now. How about this? Councilman Goode and Bryant hold a joint news conference in City Hall to answers everyone’s questions for 30 minutes. She can tell her version of why she filled out her time card so late, Goode can explain what he’s done to correct the procedures, Fox29 can ask about their Jamaican vacation, best places to visit etc, and then we can all move on. Did I miss anything? Your thoughts?
October 4th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
This issue will be over when she’s FIRED.
She’s been having an affair with her boss, and we’re paying for it with her $90,000 annual salary! It’s not even close to finished yet. In fact, when criminal charges are leveled against her and Councilman Goode, then we can say it’s over. Until then, it’s on the back burned thanks to the economy and election.
October 5th, 2008 at 9:24 am
as someone who is employed in city government, i can honestly say that though it’s nearly impossible to learn whether she intentionally defrauded the city, it’s pretty much a given that the time sheet system (not cards, most city departments don’t use cards or swipe systems) makes it kind of easy to fudge that kind of info. i don’t accuse her of anything other than being reactionary towards the investigation of the fox 29 news team. their job, as an investigative team, is to “spy” on people. they survey individuals or groups as part of the information presented in their news features! there is no need to be upset at that. if she felt her privacy was invaded, that’s one thing; it’s not as if the news team notified her of it before they approached her. the shock of being investigated would likely throw anyone into a heightened emotional state.
the apology, to me, was empty and perfunctory. she apologized because the whole city was either mocking her or wondering what’s going on inside that head of hers, and because calling the fox 29 news team racist made her further lack credibility. the apology letter she sent to city councilman goode was accompanied by a letter from her attorney, michael coard. after reading both i have to say that the damage control was too little, too late.
latrice bryant owes money to the city, according to the controller’s office — but what she owes to the public is the best service possible from here on out. bottom line, we’re watching her. her $90,000 salary means nothing in the grand scheme of things as long as she is doing her job. if city residents/ taxpayers have ever felt like they were being cheated by a government official, there’s been little to no organizing done around it or inquiries made. they work for US, not the other way around. if city council members and their staffers are valuable and vital, then it doesn’t matter to me what they get paid. if they’re wasting the city’s already-paltry budget, that’s when it’s a legitimate problem.
November 14th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Some say that Wilson Goode Jr made good on the time in question by writi8ng a check, First off she should have written that check, not him.
Next those 10 days in question of time stealing are only the 10 days that was recorded on video and backed up by the time sheets. But she did not start and stop that time stealing just on those 10 days. This has been going on the entire time she has worked for Goode Jr. and “under” Goode Jr.