N.J. Turnpike sale: Too hot to handle?

N.J. Turnpike sale: Too hot to handle? The controversy over New Jersey’s Gov. Jon Corzine’s plan to sell his state’s Turnpike is getting hotter.
   Newspapers said last week that the Democrat governor would not pursue the politically controversial plan until after November elections.
   Also last week, the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group began a petition campaign to demand that Corzine not sell the roads at a discount, and assures the public the state would retain control over transportation planning and management.
   Some 15 towns and three counties have passed resolutions opposing the sale.
   Then as the week drew to a close, several Republican legislators expressed outrage over a sentence included in the state’s 291-page budget that they said gives Corzine authority to spend funds in preparation for a sale of the turnpike and Garden State Parkway.
   Some Republican legislators are saying they didn’t see that sentence until just before they had to vote on the bill, and that Corzine might take advantage of the language to negotiate a sale and then just send it to the legislature for a rubber-stamp approval.
   Some are demanding he use his line-item veto power to remove the sentence.