Let’s Reminisce About The Future

Here’s to a kickin’ and healthy 2011. Oh, the January thaw comes soon and with it a mayoral cycle, baby! Where did the time go from the 2007 primary dogfight between then State Senator Bill Finch and State Rep. Chris Caruso? Finch defeated the Big Wave by a measly 270 votes, after Dem party regulars threw incumbent Mayor John Fabrizi under the bus for his indiscretions.

What’s key in 2011–I know I’m a broken record on this because it drives most everything else in government–the budget, the budget, the budget. Finch has a cranky budget ahead and he’s trying to figure out how to plug a hefty hole in the election-year budget while trying to close a hole in the current year budget that ends June 30. Lotsa luck.

I could on and on about the personality dynamics involved in Finch’s budget-year wish list. Will his budget be real or fairy dust? Depends, depends, depends. Big item number 1: a proposed regional sewage authority between Bridgeport, Trumbull and Monroe that would purchase the wastewater assets of Bridgeport and Trumbull. It could mean upwards of 40 million clams for Finch’s budget. That’s the good news in an election year. The bad news, will it happen in time for Finch to include the dough in his election-year budget he submits in April to the City Council? From what I can tell that’s a super ambitious timeframe. The approval process involves the state DEP and local legislative bodies, and those things tend to drag on. Oh my, I can just hear City Councilman Bob “Troll” Walsh railing about jamming a regional authority in an election year, especially after the mayor swore off one-shot revenues (unless an election year).

Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst and Finch don’t get along. Finch has a way of dictating what others should do to aid his cause not necessarily in their best interests. The list of folks Finch has pissed off (for no justifiable reason) runs out the door of Bridgeport City Hall and into the suburbs. Their relationship has gotten so testy that the city has hired former State Senator Rob Russo, an attorney and friend of Herbst, to share city dialogue on the regional authority with Herbst. If Trumbull says no, the deal is dead, or if a decision is delayed for the next several months it provides no election-year relief for Finch’s budget. If the Bridgeport City Council says no, the deal is dead. Finch floated this regional sludge idea a few years ago to the City Council and received resistance.

If the regional authority poops out Finch has two choices, a large election-year tax increase or submitting a budget with a gigantic hole with a disclaimer: the budget is balanced assuming city employee concessions. Sound familiar? And then he’ll deal with the budget hole after the election, or leave it for his replacement.

Life for a Bridgeport mayor has changed since the days of Joe Ganim, 1991-April 2003, who never had even a hint of a primary as an incumbent. (Then had much larger problems when the federals marched in.) State Rep. Chris Caruso is seriously considering another run. Twice he has jarred the hinges to the mayor’s office door. Can he break down the door? Mary-Jane Foster, vice president at the the University of Bridgeport and co-founder of the Bridgeport Bluefish, has made the rounds the past two weeks meeting with a number of key political figures including several Democratic district leaders. Former Finch administration official John Gomes is the only officially announced Democratic candidate. Others could jump in.

Finch could still win reelection. Depends, depends, depends. Certainly enough potential candidates that hope its the deep ends.