Outgoing Franklin alderman John Nelson is giving up his seat to run against incumbent mayor Steve Olson.

Nelson doesn’t like Olson all that much and that seems to be the alderman’s key and possibly sole motivation.

We know Nelson has no vision or plan for the city God forbid if he’s elected. The reason for his total lack of ideas is rather simple. His brain trust of outgoing alderwoman Kristen Wilhelm and Milwaukee County Supervisor Steve Taylor haven’t instructed him yet.

That was some photo op in a recent Nelson campaign announcement on social media. Nelson is pictured grinning from ear to ear with his posterior planted firmly in the mayor’s chair inside the Common Council chambers at Franklin City Hall, holding the mayor’s gavel.

Reminds me of a M*A*S*H episode where Frank Burns accuses Hawkeye Pierce of mutiny after Burns is temporarily left in charge when Colonel Potter is away. In one scene Burns is seen (grinning from ear to ear) in sheer delight as he sits at Potter’s desk. At the mutiny hearing Major Hunnicutt testifies how “Colonel Potter’s chair wasn’t even cold…”

Oh, and BTW, if anyone thinks this is how Nelson typically dresses for City Hall business (suit, tie, handkerchief, cufflinks), guess again. That’s why it’s called a photo opportunity.

The password mentioned above was ‘pretentious’:

Expressive of affective, unwarranted, or exaggerated importance, worth, or stature

I would add ‘chutzpah’:

Nerve, gall