We reported last week that attorney Bill Risner had unveiled an affidavit from Zbigniew Osmolski, a former county employee who said under oath that Bryan Crane, a programmer in the county’s elections division, confessed to him that he has flipped the 2006 Regional Transportation Authority election at the order of his bosses.
Osmolski said in his sworn statement that the alleged exchange took place at the Boondocks Lounge on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008.
We haven’t been able to get a hold of Osmolski–he hasn’t returned our phone call–but through a public-records request, we did get a hold of his county personnel file, which shows he could be quite a character when he was working for the county.
Osmolski was fired in 2002 for insubordination after he was busted drinking on the job. Among the details in the file:
• Osmolski refused to take a blood-alcohol test after his supervisor believed she smelled alcohol on his breath. She was checking on Osmolski after hearing that he smelled of booze and had grabbed the hand of a co-worker in the elevator because “he liked” to hold her hand.
Osmolski’s notice of dismissal notes that his supervisor “had verbally counseled you to not drink before coming to the office or any public meeting where you represented the county. She stated that citizens had complained to her that you attended meetings reeking of alcohol and were obnoxious and belligerent in meetings.”
• Osmolski tried to explain his intoxicated state by claiming that he was taking prescription pills and wearing cologne with an aroma of alcohol. Osmolski could not produce a prescription or a sample of his eau de booze in a subsequent investigation.
• Osmolski had been reprimanded in 1995 for losing a county-issued car in the parking lot of the Desert Diamond Casino. The car ended up getting towed to the Sheriff’s Department.
In that case, Tony Paez, who was then director of the county’s transportation department, reduced a two-week suspension to a written reprimand because of Osmolski’s “outstanding performance and significant contributions to this department.”
• Osmolski was reprimanded in 1992 for asking for a date from a engineering consultant who complained that she felt sexually harassed by the invitation. The engineer said that Osmolski told her a breakfast, lunch or dinner date could mean “lots of money.”
In the personnel file, Osmolski complained that “this matter was improperly investigated.”
Whatever Osmolski’s history—Risner said last week that Osmolski lost his county job because he was a whistleblower in a story about fixed engineering contracts—Risner hopes the affidavit is enough evidence of potential criminal wrongdoing that Goddard will send an investigator down to Tucson and ask a judge to order the ballots to be recounted as part of a criminal investigation.
In a letter to Goddard this week, Risner says a recount could put the matter to rest.
“Whether or not a crime has occurred can be simply and definitely determined through an examination of the ballots,” Risner wrote. “We ask for you to personally direct that the current investigation be conducted in such a manner as to arrive at an answer that the people of Pima County can accept.”
This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2008.
Sounds like the O-man should have tried Hennigans for his lunch break tipple.
I’m so surprised that Pima County released disparaging information about Mr. Osmolski. His credibility should be a matter for a court to decide, not the defendants (Pima County) and not you. Wouldn’t it have been a more even-handed article to include just some of the allegations that have been leveled in this case and have been supported by strong evidence put forth by Bill Risner?
I see that we can still count on Jim Nintzel to show us all how to be classy.
So if this dude was a drunk and a sexual harasser, why wasn’t he fired long ago? Why did they wait until he revealed what Eckstrom was up to, to ax him? IF you are really that bad for so many years, why not take action earlier? They let it go on for 10 years? That shows either this was bull or the management is so completely incompetent that they aided and abetted a drunk and harasser. Which is worse?
Sounds like bull character assassination to me. I have lost a car in a parking lot before and DD is pretty darn large. As far as the other stuff, 80% of the men I have worked with have done similar. That has no bearing on whether he was told something, but lets see if he and Crane will voluntarily take a polygraph. Why doesn’t the Weekly offer to pay for it?
Interesting that Nintzel will not report on his friend Giffords shady character which included illegal activity as well as unethical but has no problem bringing up an employee file (which anyone working for a corporation knows how frequently they will make up anything to push you out the door when you start standing up for yourself for the right thing.)
I guess truth, integrity and accountability are not sexy subjects to report to like drugs, sex and corporate propaganda.
Pima County released the personal file of one of their employees to the press? I thought those files were confidential.
Hey Nintzel, why don’t you requet the personel files of Brian Crane, Brad Nelson, and others who work in the elections department — as long as Pima County doesn’t consider them private, maybe we should see what is in them? Considering some of the comments made under oath at the RTA trial, this might be very interesting.
And I like the idea suggested above — ask Brian Crane and Osmolski to take a lie detector test. See who flinches…
You’re such a powerful man Jim Nintzel! A hear lots of accusations, but no facts from the protesters. They’re ready for a lie-detector witch hunt! Giffords’ shady character? If that was a crime we would have NO (or just few) elected officials. Educate the rest of us, since Mr. Nintzel won’t, on what the shadiness and fliching(sp?) is about. Shit, I have my own conspiracy theories, but that don’t mean jack. Sounds like you just don’t like Giffords. Tell us why and I’ll stop sending her my money. Point us in the direction of news sources that support your “unethical” and “illegal” activity theory. Now, now, I ain’t calling anybody a liar. I just want to get more info, other than Nintzel’s apparent sexy sensationalism.