That is what I thought... (the generated not assigned entry)
I did as you suggested and changed the InfoObject property in BEx under the Advanced tab to both
Access Types for Result Values: Set to "posted values" (unchecked use characteristic setting)
Filter Value Selection During Query Execution: Only Values in InfoProvider (unchecked use characteristic setting) and also tried Only Posted Values for navigation.
The # sign still shows up in the variable as a possible value when I run the query. I have also set an exclusion filter for # - no dice 
appreciate the help, thanks!