CUMBERLAND COUNTY — Carl Johnson sat behind his laptop in the breakfast nook of his well-kept Millville home Wednesday afternoon, reviewing the traffic his blog, magazzuwatch.com, had gotten the last few days. "Yesterday we had almost 100,000 hits," he said, his voice rising with excitement. "Right now we’re at 78,265 hits. … We used to have 300 to 500...
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Blogger and Republican activist Carl Johnson forced Lou Magazzu of Cumberland County to resign from his political office after published nude photos he sent to a woman he had an online affair with.CUMBERLAND COUNTY — Carl Johnson sat behind his laptop in the breakfast nook of his well-kept Millville home Wednesday afternoon, reviewing the traffic his blog, magazzuwatch.com, had gotten the last few days.
"Yesterday we had almost 100,000 hits," he said, his voice rising with excitement. "Right now we’re at 78,265 hits. … We used to have 300 to 500 hits during a normal day."
For almost a month, Johnson had been posting barely censored nude photos and racy e-mails that Cumberland County’s most powerful politician — Democrat Lou Magazzu — had sent to a woman over the internet.
Johnson, an artist and factory worker who says he makes a tad more than the minimum wage, had been feuding with Magazzu for the better part of three years. But his website lambasting the politician had gained little notice until Tuesday, when a local newspaper wrote about the e-mails.
Within 24 hours, the story was international news, Magazzu had resigned and South Jersey had a scandal reminiscent of the one that claimed New York Congressman Anthony Weiner.
Suddenly Johnson had scored the knockout he’d wanted. But he had mixed feelings.
"In my opinion, this is all idiocy," said Johnson, 49, wearing a white polo shirt with the name of his blog printed below a green-tinted picture of Magazzu’s face. "We toppled a politician over something stupid, when I have three years of a website full of material that really should have been the stuff that brought him down."
Officially, Magazzu, 53, was a freeholder, but in practice he was much more. A former director of the freeholder board and chairman of the Democrats, who control county government, he was the most powerful political figure in Cumberland County.
It was a life in stark contrast to Johnson’s, who says he is $10,000 in the hole for child support and works at a glass factory where the heat on the "cold end" of the floor can reach 115 degrees in the summer.
Johnson and Magazzu first collided in 2008, when Johnson — at the time Millville’s Republican chairman — wrote a letter to the editor disputing Magazzu’s claim that under his leadership, the county saw its biggest tax cut. Later, a Magazzu ally running for sheriff, Bob Austino, held a news conference to accuse the incumbent Republican sheriff of dragging his feet in carrying out an order against Johnson for not paying child support.
"In response to my letter, what does he do? Does he respond with another letter, a press conference, or whatever to debate the issue? No. What he does is he publicly attacks me," Johnson said.
Magazzu was known to go after political enemies with a vengeance. After former Democratic Freeholder Jane Christy lost a 2009 race as an anti-Magazzu independent, Magazzu called her a "deluded, pathetic individual" who "lives in a place where the X-Files meets the Twilight Zone."
In December — just before Johnson was due in court in an attempt to decrease his child support payments — he was arrested for nonpayment and spent the weekend in jail. Johnson believes Magazzu was behind the arrest, but he can’t offer concrete proof.
Even Magazzu’s closest political allies admit he’s made his share of enemies. "That’s probably what did make him controversial," Freeholder Jane Jannarone said. "He didn’t hold back. So he did have a lot of enemies as well as a lot of supporters."
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Louis MagazzuJannarone, who said she didn’t think Magazzu needed to resign and that he had worked hard for Cumberland County, didn’t hold back on Johnson, calling him "lost" and "sad."
Rural Cumberland County sits near the bottom of the state, missed by both the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway — a world away from northern New Jersey.
It’s also the poorest county in the state, with the highest unemployment and teen pregnancy rates. A Monmouth University poll released last week showed its residents had a dimmer view of life in New Jersey than those in every other county.
Johnson, who lives with his longtime girlfriend, Liz Nicklus, and their three dogs and two cats, says he’s not a typical Republican. With long hair, an earring and handlebar mustache, he looks like he’d be at home in a liberal enclave like Vermont — where he spent part of his childhood. He’s in favor of gay marriage and using government money to support tourism and the arts, and thinks a single-payer health care system is better than the one in place.
"I guess the main reason I became Republican rather than Democrat was the way Democrats gave money to social programs without any accountability," said Johnson, who was born in Levittown, Pa. and has lived in Millville since he was 10.
Johnson ran an underground arts newspaper, Inferno, for seven years. He lives in a 1920s-era house, owned by Nicklus, that is filled with their paintings and sculptures. The dining room floor is a mosaic of discarded tiles given to them by a friend who worked at a tile store.
"Carl has a purpose, and Lou hurt him," said Jennifer Swift, a former Democratic freeholder who opposed Magazzu and who considers Johnson a friend. "He’s pretty easy going. I guess he can be more fiery when he thinks there’s a wrong or an issue, but he’s a pretty laid back kind of guy most of the time."
Johnson said he never solicited the photos. In January, he said, a woman e-mailed him asking for personal information about Magazzu, saying she had a relationship with him for several years. Eventually, he said, she told him she had the photos and wanted to get them to a media outlet. Johnson said he tried to help her, sending them to local newspapers that refused to print a story because they did not consider it newsworthy.
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Blogger and Republican activist Carl Johnson forced Lou Magazzu of Cumberland County to resign from his political office after published nude photos he sent to a woman he had an online affair with.On July 4, he posted a bare-chested photo of Magazzu. Then, in dribs and drabs, he posted more graphic photos, barely censored. He admitted thinking about whether he should post the photos. "I said, you know it’s basically almost justice, because if he had these pictures of someone else, he would not think twice about destroying their lives," Johnson said.
No newspaper bit — until Johnson posted a letter written to him by Magazzu’s lawyer warning he might be violating state privacy law.
The attorney, Rocco Cipparone, said Magazzu is contemplating his legal options, both civil and criminal, and may also go after the woman, who has not been publicly identified. Magazzu did not return calls seeking comment.
"Obviously he’s just letting, for his personal reasons, the emotional dust settle with his family," said Cipparone, who added Magazzu and his wife have been separated for two years and are divorcing.
Cipparone said Magazzu did not use work equipment to take or send the photographs. Johnson said he’s seeking public records to find out whether that’s true.
Johnson said he’s not sure if he’ll continue his blog on Magazzu. For now, he plans to focus on blogging about Austino — the sheriff candidate who held the news conference mentioning his child support issues three years ago. Austino won that year.
"Right now, I’m working on Bob Austino Watch — the county sheriff up for re-election," Johnson said. "Again, it’s personal."