NEWPORT — The city’s leading Democrat yesterday condemned fellow party member Robert T. Oliveira for his partisan and personal attacks on City Council members last week after they backed a Republican to be their chairman and the city’s next mayor.

Oliveira should apologize for his remarks or retract them, J. Clement Cicilline, chairman of the Democratic City Committee, said in a statement

“It should be understood that even though Mr. Oliveira is a Democrat, he does not speak for the Democratic Party,” Cicilline said. “To be sure, there is no place in either the Democratic Party or in the electoral process for hurtful and demeaning remarks, particularly on people who offer to serve the general public.

“They are disconcerting, wrong-minded and reprehensible. They foster cynicism, doubt, and divisiveness at a time when unity of purpose is in order.”

A week after Oliveira was defeated in his bid for a citywide seat on the council, he sent an e-mail to council members in response to reports that Stephen C. Waluk had their support to become their chairman. The position comes with the largely ceremonial title of mayor, as well as an office an additional $2,000 stipend. Although Waluk is a Republican, elections for council and other local boards are nonpartisan.

In his e-mail, Oliveira called one council member a “drunk” and another a “racist” and a “feeble hillbilly.” He also brought up the sexual orientation of a third council member, who is openly gay, in suggesting that he shouldn’t have backed a Republican since the party is not supportive of gay marriage. He identified the targets of his remarks by name.

“The entire world went Democrat…,” Oliveira wrote in the e-mail he shared with the media. “No one is going to want to help us now… The members of the Democratic Committee who helped him are in trouble.”

Referring to the council-elect’s next two years in office, Oliveira wrote, “There will be retaliation throughout… If the members of the Newport City Council-elect want to commit acts of political war, it is political war they shall have.”

Oliveira’s statements “have generated concern and dismay within the Newport Democratic City Committee (NDCC),” Cicilline wrote, “particularly because reference was made to members who may have supported Councilman Steve Waluk, a registered Republican, being ‘in trouble.’ The NDCC bylaws are very clear that it has no role or involvement in non-partisan elections. NDCC does not endorse candidates in such elections, so members need not fear any repercussions for supporting any candidates of their choosing.

“Moreover the NDCC disavows any association with or support for ad hominem attacks on the elected officials referenced in the media accounts of Mr. Oliveira’s e-mail activity.”

Cicilline said he has tried unsuccessfully to reach Oliveira “to let him know that the NDCC was deeply disturbed with his apparent derogatory comments about these individuals. I was also going to ask him to apologize or retract his statements.”

The NDCC, Cicilline said, “respects the … right of the newly elected Newport City Council to organize itself and choose its leaders.”