courter

"Last year, Paul J. Manafort, a partner in the firm and a top strategist in President Bush's 1988 election campaign, conceded that his activities in obtaining grants from the Housing and Urban Development Department for clients could be called 'influence peddling.' The resulting furor forced another partner, Roger J. Stone, to resign as an adviser to James A. Courter, the Republican candidate for Governor of New Jersey."

In 1989, Mr. Florio easily won the Democratic nomination and then handily defeated his Republican opponent, Rep. James A. Courter.

As the highly conservative Mr. Courter took a hard line against big government and taxes, Mr. Florio called himself part of “the sensible center” who would pursue policies like fighting pollution and steep auto insurance rates while holding the line on taxes.

A Democrat, he made three unsuccessful runs for the governor before finally succeeding in 1989, when he defeated Republican Jim Courter and became the first Italian-American to serve as the state’s chief executive.

Both Mr. Salazar-Carrillo and Mr. Courter question how green electric vehicles really are, pointing to their potential to tax already stressed power grids, as well as the manufacturing process for batteries.