Critics: Cuomo apology "tone-deaf," ignores power imbalance

When she first arrived in Albany to work as a legislative aide in 2013, New York Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou had lawmakers grab her buttocks, suggest she and her boss were “a hot duo” who should have sex, and peer into her office to check her out for a “hot or not” list…

“When is it a joke to say ‘Do you have sex with older men?’” said Niou, now 38, who became a lawmaker herself in 2017, and now represents lower Manhattan. “I felt like it was very much gaslighting instead of an apology, and I think a lot of women read it that way.”…

Northwestern University law professor Deborah Tuerkheimer, who teaches law and gender issues, said Cuomo in his statement ignored the crucial power imbalance at play.

“The notion that his behavior was simply unwanted ‘flirtation’ that may have caused ‘offense’ entirely ignores a workplace hierarchy in which he — the governor of the state — was positioned at the very top,” Tuerkheimer said.