Olympic Champion Carl Lewis: Christie Bullied Me
When Carl Lewis decided to run for the New Jersey State Senate as a Democrat, Governor Chris Christie scotched plans to make Lewis a “youth fitness ambassador.”
Now, with the George Washington Bridge scandal raging, the nine-time Olympic gold medalist says he sees a “strong parallel” between his own interaction with Christie and what happened in Fort Lee, and that Christie is an “insecure person.”
“I felt like he was trying to intimidate me, absolutely. But I definitely didn’t feel intimidated,” Lewis, who recently moved to Houston, said in a phone interview.
Added Lewis: “It’s interesting, everyone calling him a bully. I don’t really see him as a bully. I see it more as someone who’s insecure, and he’s governor now and has got the power…
“I thought it was going just fine. And when I started to run, when he talked to me on the phone that night, he said ‘If you run, we’re going to have to cancel the program,’” Lewis said.
Despite the pressure from Christie, Lewis declared his candidacy for state Senate shortly after their conversation.
