William Napoli

On March 20, 2008, Napoli announced that he would not seek re-election and instead would retire from politics. In the Rapid City Journal, Napoli stated that he would run for governor "if his supporters ask him to".

A comic strip commenting on Napoli's vote appeared in the webcomic Minimum Security on March 22, 2006. It included his office and home telephone numbers, thus prompting calls, some of which were abusive. In Napoli's words, "99% percent of the calls I got were just filth. I bet I didn't talk to 20 or 25 people I could talk to. The rest were screaming obscenities before I could hang up." The cartoonist, Stephanie McMillan, auctioned the original cartoon on eBay for US$2,201.00 and donated all of the money to pro-choice causes. One half was given to Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, and the other half to the Oglala Sioux tribe, because the former tribal president Cecilia Fire Thunder had planned on opening an abortion clinic on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

In early March 2006, a Google bomb was started by the romance blog Smart Bitches Trashy Books in an attempt to popularize a neologism of his last name as something undesirable, much like Dan Savage's reaction in his column "Savage Love" to Rick Santorum's remarks about homosexuality. In early April 2006, his senate webpage was also the subject of a Google bomb for the term "sexist asshat".

William M. "Bill" Napoli (born June 17, 1948) is a former Republican state senator in the South Dakota State Legislature, representing the 35th State Senate district. He retired in 2008.