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Scandal-plagued city councilor wants to ‘celebrate’ at final meeting before leaving office
Tania Fernandes Anderson will leave office on July 4. Her final City Council meeting is this week.
City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, who recently pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges, is looking to “celebrate” during her final council meeting this week before leaving office.
Fernandes Anderson posted a message to her constituents in District 7 on Instagram Monday, inviting them to join her in the council chambers during the meeting scheduled for Wednesday. She officially submitted her letter of resignation earlier this month, and her last day in office will be July 4.
“Let’s celebrate all we’ve built together, and look ahead to the bright paths still to come,” she said in the post.
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The message prompted a sharp rebuke from Councilor Ed Flynn.
“Instead of a celebration, [the Boston City Council] should be working together to implement a strict code of conduct and ethics reform for city elected officials. We must demonstrate ethics, integrity, accountability, transparency and positive leadership through our actions,” he said in a social media post responding to an article about Fernandes Anderson’s message.
After Fernandes Anderson’s arrest last December, Flynn became one of her more outspoken critics. He has sought to use her legal saga as a way to push for more ethics oversight on the council.
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Fernandes Anderson, meanwhile, defied calls for her to resign from Mayor Michelle Wu, Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, Flynn, and others. Fernandes Anderson could not be legally forced out by her colleagues.
When she eventually announced the timeline of her resignation and final days in office, Fernandes Anderson also laid out a transition plan that included the rollout of a new “workbook” designed to increase civic engagement among constituents and transparency in local government.
She will speak about that project and much more at her final City Council meeting. Fernandes Anderson is the primary sponsor of 11 individual resolutions that are on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting. One resolution seeks to recognize the “workbook” as a “visionary and historic model for civic engagement, equity-driven governance, and community-led planning.”
Fernandes Anderson will also introduce resolutions that celebrate the independence of Cabo Verde, lay out the responsibilities of City Council members, call for a transportation study, support the rights of parents to bring their infants to work, and more. One would officially honor her City Hall staff, and another would formally recognize Fernandes Anderson’s District 7 constituents.
Fernandes Anderson pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of theft concerning a federal program. Prosecutors said she secretly hired a family member to be a part of her staff and dished out a hefty bonus to that person with the agreement that much of it would be secretly handed back to the councilor. The handoff of $7,000 in cash occurred in a City Hall bathroom, prosecutors said.
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Fernandes Anderson is scheduled to be sentenced on July 29. Federal prosecutors recommended that she be sentenced to year and day in prison and ordered to pay $13,000 in restitution.
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