Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis said New Jersey Governor Chris Christie tried to bully him when he decided to run for a political position against Christie's friend, NJ.com reported.
Lewis told NJ.com on Monday that his relationship with Christie turned sour three years ago when the Olympic star chose to run for state Senate as a Democrat. Lewis was running against Christie's republican friend, state Senator Dawn Addiego.
When the governor found out about Lewis' campaign, his administration canceled a plan to appoint Lewis as the state's first ambassador for youth fitness.
"I felt like he was trying to intimidate me, absolutely," Lewis told NJ.com, "But I definitely didn't feel intimidated."
Lewis said he noticed a "strong parallel" between how Christie treated him back in 2011 and the Fort Lee traffic jam scandal Christie is caught up in now, NJ.com reported.
"It's interesting, everyone calling him a bully," he told NJ.com. " I don't really see him as a bully. I see it more as someone who' insecure, and he's governor now and has got the power."
Lewis first began negotiations to become New Jersey's "physical fitness ambassador" in 2010. It was a volunteer position that would have included a paid position for Lewis' assistant, Chris Walker.
A year later the rumor that Lewis was going to run for senator began circulating. Walker started receiving phone calls from Christie's staff, NJ.com reported. It wasn't long before Christie personally reached out to Lewis.
"He said 'If you run, we're going to have to cancel the program,'" Lewis told NJ.com
Lewis' political campaign didn't get very far. A court decision, from a lawsuit field by Republicans, ruled that Lewis could not run for senator because he did not live in New Jersey for the required four years, NJ.com reported. A spokesman for Christie said at the time the governor did not try to stop Lewis from running.
"He called me and asked me to get out of the race. I said I would stay in the race. Then he killed the program and used his secretary of state and attorney general's office to get me out of the race," Lewis told NJ.com. "It's a pretty clear parallel."
