UPDATED: Newport Deletes Hot Mic Comments, Mayor Responds, But GoLocal Kept a Copy

UPDATED: Newport Deletes Hot Mic Comments, Mayor Responds, But GoLocal Kept a Copy

On Saturday, GoLocal broadcast a City of Newport video of a meeting in City Hall between members of the city council and area legislators. But the City has deleted a critical segment.

Former Newport Mayor Jeanne Marie Napolitano was caught on a hot mic just before a Newport City Council workshop with local legislators began. She had harsh words for some top Democrats in the city.

The meeting was held on Saturday morning at Newport City Hall to discuss the city’s legislative priorities for 2024.

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Since GoLocal posted the city's video, the official video was edited, and the discussion between Napolitano and a state legislator was removed.

Napolitano got caught telling State Senator Lou DiPalma that she was less than pleased with State Senator Dawn Euer, and Chair of Newport Democratic City Committee, Susan Taylor, and said that she was going to make their lives “miserable.”

 

GoLocal has the beginning of the meeting, which the City of Newport deleted. SEE ABOVE

Napolitano's comments can be heard in the first :40.

 

UPDATED: Mayor Xay Does Answer Questions After Initial Delay

GoLocal reached out to the sitting Newport Mayor Xaykham (Xay) Khamsyvoravong as to why the video was edited. He responded at about 3:00 PM.

"I was not asked nor did I authorize the editing of this video. I’ve asked the City Manager to look into this and to inform me and the rest of the Council as to how this video came to be edited. This is not the type of transparency Newporters deserve and we’ll get to the bottom of it,” said Mayor Xay.

 

 

Napolitano has served on the Newport City Council since 1991, and served as mayor three times over the past decade.

She is presently a councilor at-large in Newport.  

The story was updated at 3:10 PM.