OC Political

Long-time Garden Grove Councilman-turned-Mayor-turned-Councilman “Bulldozer” Bruce Broadwater (D) has made it official: he’s pulled and filed papers to run for Mayor of Garden Grove again, confirming that his June 27 mayoral fundraiser was no mere exploratory effort.

With Mayor Bill Dalton (R) termed out, Broadwater is the early front-runner for the mayor’s seat, unless Mayor Pro Tem Dina Nguyen (R), Councilman Steve Jones (R), or Councilman Kris Beard (D) decide to challenge Broadwater for the seat.  Jones and Beard are both up for re-election to the council this year, but Nguyen and Broadwater would get free passes since neither of their council seats are up until 2014, so even if one of them makes an unsuccessful bid for mayor, they’re still on the council.

The sole other person to pull papers for Mayor against Broadwater is businessman Myke Cossota, who made an unsuccessful bid to unseat Dalton in 2010, losing in a landslide 74%-26%.

Broadwater has been either Mayor or Councilman for 18 of the last 20 years.  Specifically, he was a Garden Grove City Councilman from 1992-1994, Mayor from 1994-2004, when he termed out and ran for Orange County Supervisor (losing in the runoff 55%-45% to Lou Correa), and returned to the City Council in 2006, where’s he been ever since.

For those of you wondering, “Bulldozer” Bruce Broadwater acquired his nickname from his aggressive use of redevelopment and eminent domain.