Boston Mayor Michelle Wu says Tania Fernandes Anderson should step aside after arrest
BOSTON - Boston Mayor Michelle Wu called for the resignation of Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson after she was arrested on Friday for corruption charges.
Mayor Wu speaks on Fernandes Anderson arrest
The mayor says there is a legal process that needs to play out, but that she believes the councilor should step aside for the sake of the credibility of the Boston City Council.
"I think we're all just learning and seeing what's unfolding as the allegations are coming out and we'll continue to follow how the facts unfold," Wu said.
"The charges are serious enough that I believe it is of the nature that is going to undermine the ability for the public to trust and have effective representation. I think I made my views clear on that," Wu said.
Wu says she has not spoken to Fernandes Anderson directly since her court appearance. Wu said she plans to work with Boston City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune and the council as a whole to move things forward.
"We have to hold ourselves to the highest standards in particular at the city level when the responsibilities under our charge are the ones that impact people's lives the most," Wu said.
Wu released a statement on Friday saying, "But the serious nature of these charges undermine the public trust and will prevent her from effectively serving the city. I urge Councilor Fernandes Anderson to resign."
Tania Fernandes Anderson arrested
Councilor Fernandes Anderson was arrested around 6 a.m. Friday morning and charged with wire fraud, theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, and forfeiture allegations, according to an indictment.
Fernandes Anderson is accused of taking a $7,000 kickback in a pre-arranged deal with a staff member who she was related to, authorities said. It happened in 2023 after she hired the relative in 2022, the indictment said.
The relative, identified as "Staff Member A" in the indictment, was hired with a salary of $65,000 a year and allegedly received a $13,000 bonus in May of 2023. Staff Member A later gave Fernandes Anderson $7,000 of that bonus in a Boston City Hall bathroom on June 9, 2023, the indictment said.
The indictment said that the staff member was not an immediate family member. Fernandes Anderson is also accused of lying to the city by hiding the fact that the staff member was related to her.
She faces up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud charges and up to 10 years in prison for the theft charge. She was released by the judge on a number of conditions including that she stays in Massachusetts and surrenders her passport.
Who is Tania Fernandes Anderson?
Tania Fernandes Anderson is a 45-year-old Boston City Councilor who lives in Dorchester. She represents District 7 in Boston, which includes Dorchester, Fenway, Roxbury, and parts of the South End. She was elected to her first two-year term in November of 2021 and was re-elected in 2023.
This is not the first time Fernandes Anderson was accused of hiring a family member. She hired her sister as director of constituent services shortly after she was elected in 2021. She gave her sister a $65,000 salary before raising it to $70,000 and giving her a $7,000 bonus in 2022. She later hired her son in June 2022 as her office manager, making $52,000 a year. A few weeks later, she gave him an $18,000 raise.
She was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine by the state ethics committee after she admitted that she had hired her son and sister to her staff. The committee said that her hiring her family member violated conflict of interest laws.
Investigators said that she was facing financial difficulty in mid-2023.
"When faced with financial hardship and that State Ethics Commission $5,000 sanction, Ms. Fernandes Anderson chose to violate her fiduciary duty and defraud the city of Boston, the indictment alleges, rather than find a legal means to pay off that debt," U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua Levy said.
