The N.J. Gasoline, C-Store and Automotive Association is upset with Governor Chris Christie over the state’s decision to eliminate vehicle safety inspections. The association had presented the governor with an alternate plan that would have saved the state money while keeping the inspection program.

Below is the article as it appeared on the PressofAtlanticCity.Com website.

Bottom Lines: Auto-repair group ‘absolutely furious’ at Gov. Chris Christie

Posted: Sunday, July 11, 2010

Sal Risalvato is filled with anger and despair, the kind that come from betrayal by someone you thought was your friend.

Risalvato represents the owners of the state’s gas stations and auto repair shops as executive director of the N.J. Gasoline, C-Store and Automotive Association.

The friend of such small businesses who he feels let him down? Gov. Chris Christie.

"I support him on everything else," Risalvato said Wednesday. "This is one I think the governor got wrong."

"This" is the state’s decision to save $12 million by eliminating safety inspections of vehicles.

Risalvato pushed for another plan that would have kept safety inspections and saved the state $13 million.

"I’m absolutely furious about it because my proposal made so much sense," he said. "I’m very, very frustrated they did not give my method the nod."

The association’s proposal was simple: Require all re-inspections for failed vehicles to be done at private licensed re-inspection facilities – repair shops with the state-mandated equipment and training to do the job. He said legislative leaders backed the plan, but the Governor’s Office did not.

Re-inspections by repair shops are free, under state law, if the required repair has been done by the shop, so Risalvato’s plan would cost most vehicle owners nothing.

To read the entire article, visit the PressofAtlanticCity.Com website at http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/business/article_542db73e-a21b-5947-846a-a5f58d9a4385.html.