By Doug Miller
Carlino represented the district from 1945 until he lost, along with most of the state's Republicans, in the LBJ landslide of 1964. He then worked as a lobbyist and kingmaker, remaining active in Nassau politics for decades more.
Surely it's a sign of how powerful he was that Carlino was speaker of the Assembly and Nassau County Republican chairman simultaneously, while hailing from Long Beach, "which was even way more Democratic in those days than it is today," said Jim Moriarty, the current Long Beach GOP leader.
It was the 1962 assembly campaign that introduced Moriarty, then age 10, to politics. "He was the first Italian American to have statewide prominence, and was widely expected to succeed Nelson Rockefeller once Rockefeller ran for president," Moriarty said.
But the tone set by Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign against Lyndon Johnson proved to be so disagreeable to voters that in losing he managed to bring powerful Republicans down with him in local races all over the country, and Carlino was among the most prominent.
He had served as Assembly speaker for five years before he was upset by a Democratic candidate, Jerome Dealy, with no political experience. Dealy not only had no expectations of winning but, shortly after being sworn in, showed he had little interest in the job. He served for one year before the courts restructured the district and ordered a special election, and Dealy handed the seat off to Arthur Kremer, who would serve for 20 years before being succeeded by the seat's current occupant, Long Beach Democrat Harvey Weisenberg.
"I knew him and his family," Weisenberg said. "He was a Long Beach guy who was a public servant in every sense and who represented our city proudly and did an awful lot for people."
After losing his Assembly seat, Carlino contented himself to working behind the scenes, remaining Nassau and Long Beach's GOP chairman for several years while finding lucrative work as a lobbyist in Albany. More recently, he was a partner in the Mineola law firm of Forchelli, Curto, Schwartz, Mineo, Carlino & Cohn, LLP, which he joined in 1987. According to the firm's Web site, Carlino was also a member of the board of directors of Allstate Insurance.
He was predeceased by two wives, Anneliese and Joanne, and a son, Joseph Carlino Jr. He is survived by his children Donna Maria McCoyd and Robert Francis Carlino, six grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
Born in Manhattan, Carlino grew up in Long Beach and graduated Fordham Law in 1939. His father, Lorenzo, was a politician of some note in Long Beach, active in the local Republican party, said Larry Elovich, who was Long Beach Democratic leader in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
"He got into politics at a very early age," Elovich said. "He continued to move up the Republican ranks to the point where, after Governor Rockefeller, he was the second most powerful man in New York."
Despite being a Republican in a Democratic city, Carlino was somebody who was able to parlay broad admiration into bi-partisan support, Elovich said.
"He had an alliance with the Democratic leader at the time, Philip Kohut, and they were great friends," Elovich said. "So although the Democrats controlled the city with an iron fist, Kohut let it be known he wanted Carlino to continue to be elected. Even the year he lost he carried Long Beach, and all of us young Democrats supported him.
"I've never met a classier individual," Elovich said.
Danny Teigman contributed to this story. Comments about it? DMiller@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
