Gov Malloy: “Time for shared sacrifice.” Mayor Finch: “Cities already gave.”

With lawmakers facing a $3.5 billion deficit, “shared sacrifice” is the new buzz word up in Hartford.

Freshly sworn-in Democratic Mayor Dannel Malloy is particularly fond of the term, and employed it today during both his inaugural speech and his subsequent address to the full General Assembly.

Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, who backed Malloy’s opponent – Ned Lamont of Greenwich – in their party’s primary in August, attended the latter and told me he is glad to have a former municipal leader at the helm.

Malloy was mayor of Stamford for 14 years.

“He knows what cities are up against,” Finch said.

So what role will Bridgeport play in this new world of shared sacrifices?

“Everyone knows we have to go lighter on the big 3 cities because we’ve already been sacrificing,” Finch said.

He said about a dozen of Bridgeport’s unions already agreed to concessions, and these are folks who already make a modest living.

“How much more do they go?” Finch said.

Brian Lockhart