TRENTON — In a ruling that outraged Democrats and prompted accusations of a conflict of interest, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno today threw Olympic track-and-field champion Carl Lewis, a Democrat, off the ballot for state Senate. 
 
 Guadagno, a Republican, said there was "substantial credible evidence" that he had not lived in New Jersey for the four years required under the state Constitution. 
 
 "(Lewis) did not yet own his home in New Jersey, did not otherwise live in New Jersey, did not file his taxes in New Jersey, was not registered to vote in New Jersey and did not have his business in New Jersey," she wrote. 
 
 Guadagno’s decision overturned an order issued last week by an administrative law judge, who ruled that Lewis should remain on the ballot because Republicans had failed to prove their case. 
 
 An attorney for Lewis, William Tambussi, immediately filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the residency requirement and claiming Lewis’s civil rights were violated. He said he planned to appeal the decision today in state court. 
 
 "It’s clear the administration will do anything to keep Carl Lewis off the ballot," Tambussi said. "But it’s unconstitutional. So we’ll rectify that." 
 
 The decision by Guadagno — who is the first to serve in the newly created position of lieutenant governor — is likely to reignite the debate about whether Gov. Chris Christie should have given her the responsibilities of the secretary of state, which include overseeing the Division of Elections. 
 
 Senator Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) the majority leader, issued a statement saying Guadagno, the number two Republican in the state, "should have taken the common sense approach and recused herself from being involved in this controversial and seemingly partisan decision." 
 
 Lewis, 49, who grew up in Willingboro and then lived in the West before returning to New Jersey, announced two weeks ago that he planned to challenge state Sen. Dawn Addiego (R-Burlington) in the Republican-leaning 8th Legislative District in South Jersey. 
 
 In recent days Lewis, a sports legend who won nine Olympic gold medals, accused the governor of trying to talk him out of running on the eve of his election announcement. 
 
 Carl Lewis, Olympic gold medalist, announces his plans to run for N.J. Senate The nine-time Olympic gold-medal winner also accused Gov. Chris Christie of trying to dissuade him from running as a Democrat. 
 
 "Basically he called and it was pretty clear to me he did not want me to run, and the things he was talking about were to get me to not run," Lewis said in a phone interview yesterday. 
 
 Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), who stood by Lewis’s side when he announced his candidacy, accused Guadagno of doing Christie’s bidding. 
 
 "The governor couldn’t bully Carl Lewis out of the race and the Republican Party couldn’t make a case stand up in court, so the lieutenant governor did their bidding for them," he said. 
 
 Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak disputed Lewis’ account, saying, "It’s just completely false." 
 
 "I don’t know why he’s inflating what was a friendly conversation, a casual conversation," Drewniak added. 
 
 He also dismissed the notion that Christie influenced Guadagno’s decision to remove from the ballot. 
 
 Lewis grew up in Willingboro, then attended the University of Houston in Texas and later moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. He switched his voter registration to New Jersey on the day he declared his candidacy. 
 
 Republicans argued that Lewis could not have lived in New Jersey long enough to fulfill the state’s residency requirements for seeking office, partly because he voted in California as recently as 2009 and paid income taxes there until at least 2008. 
 
 Democrats countered that Lewis bought his first home in New Jersey in 2005, has been a volunteer track coach at Willingboro High School since 2007 and has had a New Jersey driver’s license since 2006. 
 
 In making her decision, Guadagno said Lewis bought a home for his mother in New Jersey in 2005 in Mount Laurel, and did not buy one for himself, also in Mount Laurel, until November 2007 — "at least eight days after the constitutional cut-off." 
 
 But Tambussi said Guadagno had her facts wrong. 
 
 "He purchased two condos in 2005, one for himself and one for his mother," he said. "He lived in one, his mother lived in the other, This evidence is highlighted in Lewis’ closing brief." 
 
 Property records indicate that two condominiums, both in Mount Laurel, were purchased in July 2005 — one by Lewis and one by a family trust. He bought another home in Medford in November 2007. 
 
 Nonetheless, Division of Elections spokesman Shawn Crisafulli said, "We stand by the facts presented in the opinion of the secretary of state." 
 
 Previous coverage: 
 
 • Guadagno is expected to decide whether Carl Lewis can run for state Senate 
 
 • The Auditor: Guadagno taking her time to decide on Lewis 
 
 • Lt. Gov. Guadagno waits to decide if Carl Lewis meets residency requirements to run for N.J. Senate 
 
 • Judge dismisses Republican attempt to block Senate ballot of Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis 
 
 • Carl Lewis testifies at NJ residency challenge 
 
 • Republicans challenge N.J. Senate candidacy of Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis 
 
 • Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis announces plans to run for N.J. Senate 
 
 • Democrats in talks with Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis for legislative run ||||| New Jersey's top election official ruled Tuesday that nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis is ineligible to run for state Senate because he failed to meet the four-year state residency requirement for candidates seeking elected office. 
 
 Secretary of State Kim Guadagno ordered Lewis' name to be stricken from the June Democratic primary ballot. 
 
 "I find that respondent was not a resident of New Jersey for the constitutionally required four years prior to the date of the election for the office he now seeks," Guadagno said at the end of a 15-page opinion. 
 
 Guadagno, who is also New Jersey's lieutenant governor under Gov. Chris Christie, noted that Lewis said he filed taxes in California, was registered to vote there until recently and has business offices there. He owns a home in California. 
 
 Lewis, 49, grew up in New Jersey and has owned homes in the state since 2005. He has been a volunteer track coach at the public high school in his hometown of Willingboro since 2007, and he has had valid New Jersey driver's license since 2006. 
 
 Lewis lawyer Bill Tambussi said the decision by Guadagno, a Republican, will be appealed. 
 
 Tambussi said he would file a complaint in federal court alleging that New Jersey's four-year residency provision is unconstitutional and that Guadagno violated Lewis' civil rights. A separate appeal of the decision will be filed Wednesday in state Appellate Court. 
 
 "Today's decision is unfortunate but not unexpected," Tambussi said. "It is clear that this administration will do anything to keep Carl Lewis off the ballot. We are not going to let that happen. Carl Lewis is and has been a legal resident of New Jersey and it is unconstitutional to declare him otherwise." 
 
 Mark Sheridan, a lawyer for Republicans who challenged Lewis' run, saying he hadn't met the residency rule, said he was confident decision would be affirmed. 
 
 "It is absolutely the right decision," Sheridan said. "It upholds the constitutional requirement that candidates for state Senate in NJ reside in the state for 4 year preceding their run for office. Carl Lewis demonstrated over and over again during that period he was a resident of California, and you cannot be a resident of California and New Jersey at the same time." 
 
 Guadagno rejected an administrative law judge's recommendation that Lewis be allowed to stay in the race to represent the 8th Legislative District in the state's south-central region. 
 
 The former track star told The Philadelphia Inquirer Gov. Chris Christie tried to talk him out of running and threatened to cut an athletic program Lewis wanted to start. 
 
 The Christie administration told the newspaper Lewis misunderstood the talk. However, the athletic program is all but dead. ||||| TRENTON — Three years ago, a plan to make Carl Lewis a “youth fitness ambassador” for New Jersey was scrapped by Gov. Chris Christie’s administration when the Olympic track and field star decided to run for state Senate as a Democrat, Lewis said today. 
 
 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." 
 
 Here’s the back story, which was reported at the time in both The Star-Ledger and the Philadelphia Inquirer. In 2010, Lewis began talks with Gov. Chris Christie’s administration about becoming the state’s “physical fitness ambassador” – a volunteer position that would have included a paid staff position for Lewis’s aide, Chris Walker. The discussions had gone well, Lewis said, and by the end of the year he had a meeting with Christie to talk about it. 
 
 In April 2011, word got out that Lewis — who grew up in Willingboro — was considering a run for state Senate as a Democrat against Christie’s friend, state Sen. Dawn Addiego (R-Burlington). After Walker got concerned phone calls from a Christie aide, Lewis said he heard from Christie himself. 
 
 “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. But before his campaign began in earnest, it was mired in legal challenges. Republicans sued, claiming he hadn’t lived in New Jersey for the requisite four years, based partly on him casting a vote in California in 2009. And even though an administrative law judge first sided with Lewis, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno overturned the decision and kicked him off the ballot. After a tangled five-month losing battle in state and federal courts, Lewis dropped out, leaving Addiego to seek re-election unopposed. 
 
 At the time, Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak acknowledged the governor talked with Lewis but denied he attempted to dissuade him from running. “Absolutely, positively not. And anybody who says otherwise is lying," Drewniak told The Star-Ledger, though he did say Christie told Lewis "Well, I have to support my friend of 20 years." Referring to the fitness ambassador position, Drewniak said "I don't think Mr. Lewis is going to be running for office and doing this." 
 
 “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 said. “It’s a pretty clear parallel.” 
 
 
 
 Gov. Chris Christie’s administration spent $78,000 worth of attorney’s staff time in the effort to remove Lewis from the ballot, records showed. 
 
 Drewniak said today that Lewis was kicked off the ballot “by every court, state and federal, which he petitioned – on the basis of residency.” 
 
 “It was certainly a reasonable challenge by New Jersey’s secretary of state, and the state Supreme Court and federal courts agreed,” he said. 
 
 Lewis said he couldn’t say if Christie had anything to do with the George Washington Bridge scandal. But he said people are more likely to believe his story now. 
 
 “A lot of people said ‘He didn’t do that, he didn’t say that.’ I could have beat that drum forever and most people would not have believed it,” Lewis said. “Now you’re calling me to ask about it because it’s a lot more plausible. Now it makes sense.” 
 
 
 
 One Republican criticism of Lewis at the time was that he had only recently moved back to New Jersey after living here a long time. Asked if that criticism was borne out by his decision to move to Houston, where he used to live. Lewis said it's a "fair question." 
 
 
 
 "I ran for office because I saw some issues that I thought needed to be different. Running for office, I didn't clearly see the support for change… Let me change my environment and do something different,” Lewis said. 
 
 RELATED COVERAGE 
 
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– New Jersey won't let a favorite son run for state office. The lieutenant governor ruled today that Carl Lewis, who has nine Olympic gold medals on his mantle, doesn't meet the four-year residency requirement to run for a state Senate seat, reports the Star-Ledger. The 49-year-old Lewis plans to appeal. "The lieutenant governor has her facts wrong," says his attorney. Lewis grew up in Jersey and has owned homes there since 2005, reports AP. He also has a state driver's license and volunteers as a track coach in his hometown of Willingboro. But he also has a home and business offices in California, and he voted there as recently as 2009, prompting Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno to declare that state to be his legal home. Guadagno is a Republican, and Lewis a Democrat. He told the Philadelphia Inquirer this week that Gov. Chris Christie tried to bully him out of running by threatening to cut a physical fitness program Lewis wants to start. Christie's office called Lewis accusation "silly."