Bray Loved Spaulding, Friend Says : Courts: She testifies in harassment case that ex-planner playfully discussed relationship with boss.

Amplifying testimony that she gave when called to the witness stand last week, a good friend of Susan Bray testified Friday that the former city planner occasionally discussed her sexual relationship with former Planning Director Robert Spaulding in “playful” terms.

Carolyn Harshman, who assisted Bray after she had an emotional breakdown the day her role in the City Hall sex scandal was made public, undermined several of Bray’s key claims after she was called to testify by attorneys representing the city.

Susan Bray had grown to love Spaulding, Harshman said, echoing her testimony last week and again contradicting Bray’s own testimony.

Bray is seeking millions of dollars from the city because she claims Spaulding sexually harassed her and that the publicity surrounding what Mayor Maureen O’Connor called “the biggest scandal” at City Hall in 20 years has left her unable to work.

Bray maintains that she consented to a sexual relationship only because she feared for her job. Harshman, who remains Bray’s friend, also quoted Bray as saying that Spaulding “filled an (emotional) void” one day when he came to her apartment and comforted a distraught Bray.

Harshman’s testimony came as the 15-day trial comes to a close. Bray’s attorneys may present a small amount of evidence Tuesday, and, depending on whether they do, the jury may hear closing arguments Tuesday.

Also testifying Friday was Dr. Melvin Goldzband, who said Bray suffers from a personality disorder. Although the psychiatrist would not label the problem as either “narcissistic” or “histrionic,” as other doctors have done, he testified that people with these disorders typically have a problem keeping confidential personal information to themselves.

Goldzband, in fact, found Bray to be the exact opposite. Bray was “resistive to the interview process,” he said of two meetings they had after the scandal became public.

“ ‘What are you asking this for? You’re harassing me just like the city,’ ” Bray said during their second interview, Goldzband testified.

“It was very difficult for me to get across the idea that I had to find out more about the person this happened to,” he said.

Although he was suspicious about her lack of candor, Goldzband said, the publicity surrounding her secret settlement with the city “was upsetting to her . . . (and) must have really set her off a great deal.”

The psychiatrist would not contradict the diagnosis of depression made by Bray’s family doctor well before she became involved in the sexual relationship with Spaulding.