City Attorney Karla Nieman Responds To Birthday Party Photos
On Wednesday afternoon, El Paso Mayor Dee Margo oversaw a City news conference that updated residents on COVID-19 numbers. Margo reiterated the infection numbers, hospitalization rate, and the current death count due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In the middle of taking questions from the media, Margo was asked by a reporter if he knew of a birthday party that City Attorney Karla Nieman had thrown recently. Margo appeared visibly agitated and said that he knew of the party and was unhappy that he had not been invited to the party. He went on to say that he wasn't even offered cake or ice cream. The reporter asking the question said that there were photos that the local Fox affiliate had obtained that showed a number of people celebrating, which would seem to have violated the City's orders about gatherings of more than 10 people. You can check out the moment here.
Margo answered that the party was for the City Attorney's five year old daughter and that he did know about the party. After the news conference, the City released a statement from Nieman that read:
"While my personal life and family’s activities should be private, I would like to simply say that like many families in El Paso, mine is a multigenerational family that is part of one household. We have been adhering to the City and County guidelines, and it is unfortunate that my daughter’s birthday with her parents and grandparents is a subject of conversation.”
I'm not going to link the Instagram page because it has children's photos on it, but I have a couple of questions. It appears the photos were taken from Neiman's husband's Instagram page, but what led him to those photos? Did the reporter try to contact any of the Nieman's for clarification about how many people were at the party or if they lived at the residence?
I understand the importance of social distancing, not doing family gatherings, and knowing that as a public figure, you are going to be held to a higher standard, but instead of trying to out a public figure, why didn't the Fox affiliate just reach out to Nieman in the first place?