The Boondocks Lounge has been at the center of the election-intergrity squabble and debate regarding the sighting of Pima County Elections Division employee Bryan Crane.

According to former county employee Zbigniew Osmolski, Crane allegedly told Zbig that he was instructed to rig the Regional Transportation Authority election one fine night at Boondocks. Crane has reported that he had to look up Boondocks to know where it was located--he's never been there, he said. The conversation between the two supposedly took place on the Boondocks patio the night of Jan. 27, 2008.

One blog-comment-leaver wondered what folks at the Boondocks saw, or if anything was captured by a security camera.

Well, dear blogger, a call to Boondocks co-owner Cathy Warner didn't produce much--except for the revelation that Warner has now been interviewed by Attorney General investigators regarding the night in question. Warner said she was asked about cameras and if anyone reported to her that they saw Crane enjoying a smoke out on the patio.

Warner was clear: She doesn't know Crane, and formally met Zbig only a couple of months ago when he came up to her one night and explained who he was (although she said she recognized him as someone she's seen at Boondocks in the past).

As far as surveillance goes, Warner said that in January, she was still using an old system that only had cameras focused on the bar area. There were no cameras on the patio. The sytem used video tapes, and once Warner reviewed the tapes for suspicious activity, she often used those tapes over again. And that's exactly what happened: The Attorney General's office asked her to look, and she confirmed that a tape from Jan. 27 no longer exists.

The Attorney General investigators also took pictures of the patio area--and lamented to Warner that this case just won't go away.

What they didn't ask Warner is about her staff--those working that night who could have potentially ID'd Crane and Zbig, with Crane wearing his fedora and ponytail, and Zbig with a Brazilian shirt and cigarettes telling Crane in his Polish accent that he is Billy from Brazil.

Warner said she'd have to turn her office upside down to find the staff schedule from that night. She said most of the Sunday staff is usually pretty young and doesn't keep up on the news.

To this day, she said, no one on her staff has told her that they saw anything that night--or that they even read about this Boondocks affair in the Weekly.

Ouch.