Boston City Councilor Fernandes Anderson has a trail of troubled finances

The expenses in the audit reports of Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson’s campaign committee could be mistaken for a large family credit card bill: $1,630.65 at a BJ’s Wholesale Club; $17 at Taco Bell; $410 at Restaurante Cesaria in Dorchester.

The state Office of Campaign and Political Finance flagged these expenses and numerous others, saying they needed more documentation. The councilor eventually complied — saying the BJ’s groceries in June of 2023 were for a migrant food drive. But Fernandes Anderson has nearly 70 audit letters and reviews in her file going back to 2021, far more than is typical, according to specialists in campaign finance. Many of the letters repeat prior requests that had gone unanswered.

Public records reviewed by WBUR portray a city councilor who has faced years of financial turmoil. That strain seeped into her political life, with shoddy recordkeeping, rule violations and the involvement of family in her financial affairs, allegedly culminating in a cash payment that prosecutors say was illegal.

Fernandes Anderson was arrested on a half-dozen federal corruption charges earlier this month. Prosecutors allege that on June 9, 2023, one day after the trip to Taco Bell, Fernandes Anderson took a $7,000 cash kickback from a staffer in a City Hall bathroom.

The councilor employed the kickback scheme at a time when she was trying to pay off debts, the indictment alleges. But rather than find a legal means to come up with funds, she “chose to violate her fiduciary duty and defraud the city of Boston,” U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua Levy said. Fernandes Anderson has pleaded not guilty.

As recently as last month, Fernandes Anderson was working to resolve campaign finance infractions with state regulators.

In Massachusetts, public officials can use the cash from their campaign funds on anything that enhances their “political future” and is not “primarily for personal use.” There are certain reporting requirements, and in Fernandes Anderson’s case, it appears she was often delinquent.

There were payments filed with missing details: $500 for a youth canvasser whose name was illegible; $35 to a man for an unclear reason; a $100 "donation" to a person whose name was unclear. There were large purchases without explanation at Walgreen's, Stop & Shop and Target.

“It's striking, particularly in Massachusetts, where the rules are fairly weak, that she felt that she didn't even have to bother to give any sort of explanation,” said Daniel Weiner, director of the elections and government program at NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice. “In fact, there might be a plausible connection for some of these purchases.”

Fernandes Anderson had entrusted her campaign finance account to her 25-year-old son, Louis Roca, who she says is serving in the U.S. Marines. She named him treasurer in May 2023. That was after she had to fire him as a council staffer the prior year, because employing her son and sister on her staff broke the state conflict-of-interest law.

Fernandes Anderson was fined $5,000 by the State Ethics commission in July 2023 for those violations.

Roca's name is on a number of the audit letters. After months of missing deposit reports and expenditure information, state regulators ordered the councilor to remove him from that position too, according to a resolution letter filed in November.

Fernandes Anderson declined to answer specific questions for this story through her attorney, Scott Lauer.

"We will respond to the allegations against her at the appropriate time and place," Lauer said in a statement. "Until then, we hope that the public will respect the presumption of innocence and refrain from rushing to judgment until all the facts are known."

Roca could not be reached for comment.

In court documents, federal investigators say the councilor was in a deep financial bind in early to mid 2023. Fernandes Anderson earns a $115,000 annual salary as a city councilor, yet prosecutors allege she was missing rent and car payments, and incurring bank overdraft fees because of low daily bank balances.

In public records, and by her own official telling, there were many lean years before being elected councilor in 2021.

Fernandes Anderson’s childhood was marked by poverty and instability. According to her city council bio, she moved to the United States from Cape Verde at age 10, to live with her mother in a Roxbury public housing project. She recalled her first encounter with city government came when she was 12, after she helped emergency deliver her aunt’s baby at home. She received an award from then-Mayor Ray Flynn.

Fernandes Anderson graduated from the John D. O’Bryant High School of Mathematics and Science and attended Springfield College. She grew up as an undocumented immigrant, and became a naturalized citizen in 2019.

In 2013, she founded Noah’s Advocate, a mental health provider. Filings with the Secretary of State’s office show the business was dissolved in 2017.

Fernandes Anderson was executive director of Bowdoin/Geneva Main Streets for two years before she was elected, a nonprofit that supports small businesses in the Dorchester neighborhood. She collected a modest salary — the nonprofit's tax filings show she made about $36,875 a year.

In the federal indictment, prosecutors highlighted the $5,000 ethics fine they allege she was struggling to pay. But there appear to be other personal debts as well. In 2018, a debt collector filed a complaint in Boston municipal court, alleging Fernandes Anderson defaulted on a $10,500 loan and still owed more than $8,300.

The councilor also owes $19,000 on a $35,000 loan to what appears to be a student loan provider, according to the councilor’s 2023 financial disclosure filed with the Boston City Clerk. She writes in the disclosure that she’s in a payment deferral program. She does not list any assets.

Fernandes Anderson has said she raised her two sons, as well as over a dozen foster children, as a single mother. Her husband, Tanzerius Anderson, is incarcerated on a life sentence, after being convicted of a Brighton murder in 2002.

Winning a City Council seat in 2021 gave Fernandes Anderson access to a six-figure salary and to campaign funds that are lightly regulated. A recurring quip in Massachusetts political circles is that fundraising accounts of public officials are often used as “personal slush funds.”

But it appears Fernandes Anderson played particularly fast and loose, from the mounting audits to the hiring of her son.

“That sort of nepotism is actually fairly common, all the way up, obviously, to presidential campaigns,” said Weiner, the Brennan Center campaign finance expert. But, he noted, “Years of non-compliance is unusual.”

Weiner said Massachusetts has relatively toothless campaign finance laws. In other states, he said, "a regulator at that point would hopefully have the authority and inclination to take more serious action."

Fernandes Anderson resolved her campaign finance compliance issues in an agreement with state officials in November. She filed nearly $33,000 of late deposit reports, purged $1,750 in excess contributions, and agreed to remove her son from the campaign committee.

But much bigger legal troubles are only just beginning for her. And they come at a cost.

Fernandes Anderson received representation in the federal case from Lauer, a public defender, at her first court appearance. But the judge later ruled she must cover part of the cost of her defense — and ordered her to pay $5,000 by next month. 

Jacquetta Van Zandt is a Boston political analyst who hosts a video podcast called “Politics and Prosecco.” She’s also a homeowner in Fernandes Anderson’s district, and has known her since high school. She said she was “shocked” by the kickback allegations, especially after the councilor was already under scrutiny for campaign finance and ethics violations.

“My honest take is, she had all the opportunities to be successful as a city councilor and she chose to make many choices that would have consequences that would be not only detrimental to her career, but detrimental to that district,” Van Zandt said.

Fernandes Anderson is facing calls to resign from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, and multiple fellow councilors. City Councilor Ed Flynn has proposed creating a council ethics committee, to “ensure that we will be in compliance and know what the rules and laws are.”

So far, Fernandes Anderson says she has no plans to step down. In an interview, she said she isn't taking her colleagues' public comments personally.

“Politics is interesting,” she said. “People will apologize behind the scenes, and I say ‘That’s OK, I forgive you, be patient, allow due process.’”

She received some warm greetings from supporters at her first public meeting after being arrested and chatted amicably with colleagues.

Imam Abdullah Faaruuq, of Roxbury, was among those supporting her. He said he's known Fernandes Anderson for 20 years and believes she fights hard for the neighborhoods she represents.

"She still has work to do," he said. "She's concerned with the issues of concern for the people of Roxbury in particular."

But other constituents are disappointed. As her former classmate Van Zandt sees it, "She just didn't play the game right."