NINE-TIME GOLD MEDALIST and Olympic icon, Carl Lewis, cannot run for a seat in the New Jersey state Senate according to Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, who is also the secretary of state.
THE RUB: state residency. Has Lewis been a N.J. resident since 2005, when he bought his home there, or not? To run for the state Senate, you have to have been a resident for four years.
Sure, Lewis bought a home in N.J. nearly six years ago, has been a volunteer track coach at a Willingboro public school since 2007, has had a N.J. driver's license since 2006, and he's a N.J. native, but has he actually lived there? According to Lt. Gov. Guadagno, no. If Lewis was a true N.J. resident, he wouldn't have voted in California in 2009.
Whoops!
I don't know N.J. state law, but it appears politics is in-play.
Lewis, running as a Democrate, is challenging Republican incumbent Senator Dawn Addiego. Apparently, this is one of a very few hotly contested seats in the state Senate.
September 19th the ballots will be printed. As of now, the name Carl Lewis will not be on the page.
Lewis could be a "write-in" for the seat, and win the election, but something tells me they'll fight Lewis all the way to the finish line.
Clearly a political move (seems a bit shady for the LT. Governor and secretary of state to be the same person in the first place), but she's probably right. The tricky part is that there doesn't seem to be an official objective litmus test for establishing residency; it's usually centered around intents and the like. For things like voter registration, it's usually not worth the resources to investigate, so I'd imagine the bar of proof in those situations is pretty low.
That's where he messed up. Two of the most obvious tests are driver's liscence and voter registration. He's got one, but not the other, and that leaves the door open for a partisan SOS to disqualify him from the race. If he registered to vote in California, then he declared himself a resident of that state, at least in 2009. His only back-track would be to say that he fraudulently voted in California...but that wouldn't do any good for his campaign either.
Looks like he'll have to wait until the next election. But very interesting find Mel, good pickup.
Posted by: Braden Keith | August 17, 2011 at 10:01 AM