🧨 Mayor Jim Paine: Democracy’s Exit Wound in a Natural Gas Flameout

🚷 “We’re Not Doing That Anymore”: The Mayor as Monarch

Forget town halls and votes. In Superior, Wisconsin, democracy now runs on vibes—specifically, Jim Paine’s vibes.

The mayor didn’t just pause the $700 million Nemadji Trail Energy Center (NTEC)—he commandeered the civic steering wheel, yanked the zoning process into a ditch, and told every other elected official, utility company, tribal leader, and taxpayer, “You don’t matter.”

That ain’t democracy. That’s autocracy with a city seal and a coffee mug that says “Mayor.”

💼 NTEC: Approved by the State, Reviewed by the Feds… Denied by One Guy

Let’s break this down:

• NTEC was state-approved by the Public Service Commission.

• Federal environmental reviews? Passed.

• Legal contracts? Signed.

• Municipal council input? Eh… ignored.

Paine didn’t take it to the council. He didn’t put it to a vote. He didn’t even do the procedural striptease of public notice. He just decided the city wouldn’t rezone or vacate the land. Like a one-man HOA, except the neighborhood is the entire city and the fine is a federal lawsuit.

🗳️ Rule by Ego, Not the People

Here’s the darkly hilarious part: Paine’s trying to sell this as a win for “the people.” Which people? Not the City Council. Not the Public Service Commission. Not even the Fond du Lac Band—he never even called them before using their burial grounds as his moral soapbox.

Translation: “The people” = Me, Myself, and Jim.

That’s not leadership. That’s a power trip with a LinkedIn profile picture. He didn’t consult, he didn’t deliberate—he dictated. This isn’t a city government; it’s Paine’s Personal Performance Art Project.

🧾 Meanwhile, Other Wisconsin Cities Are Adulting

While Paine’s out here LARPing as The Ethical Maverick™, other parts of Wisconsin are playing by the rules and getting sh*t done:

• Badger Hollow Solar Farm got all its approvals and is now pumping out clean energy like a Tesla on espresso.

• Dane County’s Strix Solar didn’t need a dramatic monologue to get state backing.

• And new legislation is fast-tracking renewables, grid upgrades, and even studying nuclear options—with full hearings and stakeholder input. Democracy still lives—just not in Superior.

🚨 Paine’s Playbook: Hijack, Grandstand, Repeat

Let’s be crystal clear: You don’t kill a massive infrastructure project on your own because it offends your personal ethos. You bring people in. You build consensus. You follow the damn rules.

Because otherwise, congratulations—you’re not a progressive hero. You’re just a left-wing DeSantis with less hair and fewer lawsuits… for now.

🧨 Final Thought: Democracy Dies in Autocracy, Not at the Ballot Box

Whether NTEC was good or bad policy is beside the point. Democracy is supposed to be a process, not a punchline.

Mayor Paine didn’t stop a project. He stopped the process itself.

And in doing so, he stopped representing anyone but himself.