02.10.2025

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Mystery donors: Boston’s kickback councilor faces fresh trouble over her handling of campaign contributions and spending

She’s already up to her neck in trouble with the feds, facing charges that she engaged in a brazen kickback scheme.

Now Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson may be in hot water with state campaign finance officials as well.

The Roxbury pol has managed to raise nearly $4,200 for her campaign coffers in the weeks after her indictment in early December on six different federal charges for wire fraud and theft of government money.

However, Fernandes Anderson failed to disclose, in the required monthly campaign finance reports, exactly who those contributors are.

And she’s also been light on the details in explaining the reason for some of her campaign account expenditures, including $500 dropped back in December at Restaurant Cesaria in Dorchester.

Let’s just say the Office of Campaign and Political Finance is not amused.

In a letter last week to Fernandes Anderson, OCPF officials gave the embattled city councilor until next Tuesday to cough up the information on her contributors and campaign expenses or face legal action.

City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson

Most pols routinely list their contributors in their monthly reports, so Fernandes Anderson’s omissions stand out.

Her campaign also reports paying more than $2,000 to a local real estate agent for a campaign fundraiser, or roughly half of what she took in contributions back in December.

State campaign finance officials have flagged that expense as well, seeking additional details on it.

In January, Fernandes Anderson spent another $450 at Restaurant Cesaria, while also dropping $400 at the Cheesecake Factory, campaign finance records show.

For her part, Fernandes Anderson is charged with allegedly agreeing to pay out a $13,000 bonus to a staffer who was a relative of hers, and then taking a big chunk of it back for herself, according to federal prosecutors.

The whole grubby transaction culminated in a June 2023 meeting in a City Hall bathroom, with the staffer handing over $7,000 in cash to Fernandes Anderson, who stuffed the bills in her pocket, the feds contend.

As for motivation? Fernandes Anderson was drowning financially, hit with bank overdraft fees and missed rent and car payments, according to federal prosecutors.

Her reckless attempt to pad her payroll with family members also contributed to her monetary woes, triggering a $5,000 fine from state ethics officials.

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