Please raise your hand if you’ve ever been personally victimized by Chris Christie. On Monday, nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis publicly did so when he claimed that the New Jersey governor not only dissuaded him from running for State Senate but also threatened to shut down the fitness program they had been developing together after Lewis launched a campaign against Republican Dawn Addiego, a friend of Christie.
Although some have questioned the veracity of Lewis’ claims, the allegations only add to the mounting media disaster that started with Bridgegate and doesn’t seem to be in the process of abating any time soon, as Christie seems more culpable and less likable. The focus has been trained on the Port Authority scandal, but many other instances of Christie running his administration in the style of a vindictive mob boss have recently popped up. The New York Times has reported that his aides (or maybe “henchmen” would be a better word) sent obscenities to a union officer who had condemned Christie over the radio. Other reports have suggested that when Christie thought that a State Senator took too long to approve one of Christie’s nominees, the governor removed his police protection.
Luckily for Governor Christie, he seems to have stumbled on impeccable timing – Bridgegate broke only months after his successful reelection campaign for governor. But his presidential prospects for 2016 just got grimmer.