Carmine Savino

Carmine Savino
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from Bergen County
In office
1954–1964
Personal details
Born(1911-11-11)November 11, 1911
Lyndhurst, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedNovember 19, 1993(1993-11-19) (aged 82)
Lyndhurst, New Jersey, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseEileen
EducationRutgers University
John Marshall Law School

Carmine F. Savino Jr. (November 11, 1911 – November 19, 1993) was an American lawyer, newspaper editor and Republican Party politician who represented Bergen County, for ten years in the New Jersey General Assembly before being appointed to serve on the state court of tax appeals. He spent six decades as an editor at a group of local newspapers.

Born and raised in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, Savino lived there his entire life. His father served as the township's mayor. He graduated from Lyndhurst High School, Rutgers University and John Marshall Law School. After passing the state bar exam, he established a law practice in his hometown.[1][2]

Savino was elected as a Republican and served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1954 until 1964.[3]

In 1954, Savino and Charles W. Kraus won a special election to fill the two seats in the Assembly that had been vacated by Lawrence Cavanto (who had been appointed as a judge) and Wilma Marggraff (who went on to become the first woman elected as a Bergen County Freeholder).[4][5] He won his first full term in the 1955 general election, as the Republicans swept Bergen County's six seats in the Assembly, with Savino winning alongside his running mates Charles W. Kraus, Edmund E. Field Jr., Pierce H. Deamer Jr., Arthur Vervaet and Earl A. Maryatt.[6] He left office in the legislature after being appointed to serve on the Board of Tax Appeals.[3]

After Governor of New Jersey Robert B. Meyner vetoed in July 1955 a bill that would have given salary increases to state court judges because of the resulting increases in pension costs to the state, Savino argued that the legislature should override the veto, saying that "It is shameful that New Jersey's judges continue to be the victims of political maneuvering."[7]

In 1958, Savino proposed introducing legislation under which local school districts would be eliminated, with schools placed under county control and partially funded with a statewide sales tax rate of three percent that would provide more equal funding to schools regardless of the property tax base in each community; the estimated $250 million that would be raised by the proposed sales tax would be enough to cut local property taxes in half.[2][8]

Savino died in 1993.[9]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, 1975, p. 591. Accessed November 10, 2021. "Mr. Savino was born in Lyndhurst November 11, 1911. He was educated in the Lyndhurst public schools, Lyndhurst High School, and John Marshall College and Law School."
  2. ^ a b O'Shea, Jack. "Carmine Savino: Leader editor, judge, legislator passes", The Commercial Leader of Lyndhurst, November 24, 1993. Accessed November 10, 2021. "Mr. Savino was born in Lyndhurst and lived in the Township all his life. He was a member of the first graduating class at Lyndhurst High School. He graduated from Rutgers University, received his law degree from John Marshall Law School and passed his Bar examination in 1939, opening his law office that year at 251 Ridge Road, where he practiced throughout his professional life."
  3. ^ a b Topousis, Tom. "Carmine Savino Jr., 81; Editor of 4 Bergen newspapers", The Record, November 20, 1993. Accessed November 10, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Carmine F. Savino Jr., the longtime editor of four community newspapers in southern Bergen County and a former assemblyman and county judge, died Friday. He was 81. Mr. Savino was editor of the Lyndhurst-based Leader Newspapers for 60 years, a position he held until his death..... Elected to the Assembly in 1954, Mr. Savino served 10 years and rose to the rank of minority leader for the Republican Party. In 1964, he was appointed judge on the state Board of Tax Appeals where he served until 1977."
  4. ^ Wright, George Cable. "Jersey Vote Seen Closest In Years; Impartial Survey Gives Howell Edge, With G.O.P. Likely to Sweep Legislature", The New York Times, October 31, 1954. Accessed November 10, 2021.
  5. ^ "County Republicans Score Big Victories", The Garfield Guardian, November 5, 1954. Accessed November 10, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Assembly, Kraus 136,366; Savino 133,125; Romano 85,274; Clark, 86,889"
  6. ^ Results of the General Election Held November 8th, 1955, New Jersey Department of State. Accessed November 10, 2021.
  7. ^ "Meyner Rejects Judges' Pay Rise; Cites Liberal Pensions for Jurists – Teachers' Aid Bill to Go Back to Legislature", The New York Times, July 20, 1955. Accessed November 10, 2021.
  8. ^ Oriol, William. "Savino Tax-Cutting Suggestion Would Abolish School Boards; Bergen Assemblyman To Offer Plan At G. O. P. Committee Meeting", The Record, September 17, 1958. Accessed November 11, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "If New Jersey home owners want to cut their property tax in half, Assemblyman Carmine Savino Jr. (R., Bergen) says they should start by abolishing local boards of education.... Savino also wants the State to impose a 3 per cent sales tax and use the revenue for schools. He estimates the tax would yield approximately $250 million annually. It is this $250 million, says Savino, that could cut home owner's tax bills in half because the local property tax would no longer have to support local school expenses."
  9. ^ Topousis, Tom (November 20, 1993). "Carmine Savino Jr., 81". The Record. p. D15. Retrieved December 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.