Tania Fernandes Anderson
Member of the Boston City Council
from the 7th district
Assumed office
January 4, 2024
In office
January 3, 2022 – January 1, 2024
Preceded byKim Janey
Personal details
Born (1979-01-04) January 4, 1979
Praia, Santiago, Cape Verde
Political partyDemocratic
ResidenceRoxbury, Boston
WebsiteCampaign website

Tania Fernandes Anderson (born January 4, 1979)[1] is a Cape Verdean-born American politician and non-profit executive who is a member of the Boston City Council for the 7th district. A Democrat, she was elected in 2021 to succeed Kim Janey and represents Roxbury, Dorchester, and part of the South End. She is the first practicing Muslim elected to the Council.[2]

Early life and career

Fernandes Anderson was born in Praia, Cape Verde, and moved to Roxbury when she was 10.[1][2] She graduated from John D. O'Bryant High School. She is the executive director of Bowdoin Geneva Main Streets, a non-profit supporting small businesses.[3]

Boston City Council

Ferm term (2022 and 2023)

Elected in November 2021, Fernandes Anderson took office in January 2022.

In June 2022, the Boston City Council unanimously adopted a resolution introduced by Fernandes Anderson and Councilors Kendra Lara and Ruthzee Louijeune which apologized for the city's historical role in the Atlantic slave trade.[4]

In her first term, Fernandes Anderson chaired the Ways and Means Committee, which has a purview centered on budget-related legislation. In June 2023, the city council voted 7–5 to approve an operating budget for the following fiscal year as it had been amended by the committee. Many of the amendments that the committee had made to the budget faced heavy criticism from dissenting council members.[5] Mayor Michelle Wu soon vetoed a majority of the budget amendments, including amendments would have resulted in decreased funding to the city's Office of Veterans Services and its police department, an amendment aimed at increasing citizen input in budgeting, as well as decreases of funding for the city's Transportation Department, Public Works Department, and the Boston Public Library.[6][7] After Wu's vetoes, the city council held votes on overriding six of the vetos, but were only secured the necessary threshold to override a single veto.[7]

In October 2022, Fernandes Anderson offered a resolution calling for “Boston's Hijab Day”, in recognition of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died while in the custody of Iranian authorities. Amini had been arrested for improperly wearing the hijab. The city council agreed to mark September 23, Amini's birthday, as the “Day of Woman, Life and Freedom” in connection with human rights protests in Iran, but declined to recognize it as “Boston's Hijab Day”.[8]

At an October 18, 2023 city council hearing where resolutions were presented about the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel and subsequent 2023 Israel–Hamas war, Fernandes Anderson made comments calling for a return of hostages taken by Hamas and an immediate ceasefire by both sides and introduced a resolution calling for an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire.[9] She was criticized for characterizing the Hamas-led October 7 attack in her resolution as a "military operation" rather than an act of terrorism.[10]

In July 2023, Fernandes Anderson admitted guilt and agreed to pay a $5,000 civil penalty after violating conflict of interest laws by hiring her sister and son to paid positions on her Boston City Council staff, according to the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission. After her 2021 election to the Boston City Council, Fernandes Anderson appointed her sister as her full-time Director of Constituent Services. She initially set her sister’s salary at $65,000 and then approved an increased to $70,000 in 2022, while also giving her sister a $7,000 bonus, according to the disposition agreement signed by Fernandes Anderson. In 2022, she also appointed her son as her office manager at an annual salary of $52,000 and then less than two weeks later, gave her son a pay raise to $70,000.[11][12] In a statement released to the public, State Ethics Commission executive director David Wilson said, "Fernandes Anderson's actions as a Boston City Councilor concerning the appointment and compensation of her sister and son violated the conflict of interest law's prohibition against municipal employees participating in their official capacity in matters in which they know members of their immediate family have a financial interest." Both her sister and her son's employment were terminated in August 2022.[13]

Second term (2024–present)

Fernandes Anderson was reelected in November 2023, defeating a challenge by Althea Garrison,[14] a perennial candidate and former officeholder. When the oath of office was being administered collectively to city councilors by Mayor Michelle Wu at the January 1, 2024 inaugural meeting of new council term, Fernandes Anderson failed both to raise her hand and verbally recite the oath.[15] A video showing Fernandes Anderson's failure to perform her oath of office went viral after being posted to the Libs of TikTok account on X, with the account's post including commentary accusing Fernandes of hating the United States. She responded that she had "internalized" the oath with a private prayer, and called commentary on it "anti-immigrant racist vitriol."[16] However, because the Boston City Charter requires that city councilors recite their oath of office in order to serve, Mayor Wu and the city government declared that Anderson's tenure on the council had lapsed and ordered that city council records be amended to discount Fernandes Anderson's vote on the selection of Ruthzee Louijeune as council president, since Fernandes Anderson had not been eligible to cast any council votes (the vote to make Louijeuene city council president had been unanimous, therefore this had no material impact). Fernandes Anderson was allowed to re-assume her office as a city councilor after taking her oath on January 4, 2024.[15]

Personal life

Fernandes Anderson has been a foster mom of 17 children.[3] In a 2023 council meeting, Fernandes Anderson mentioned that one of her sons has served in the United States Marine Corps.[5] Fernandes Anderson is a practicing Sunni Muslim.[2]

Fernandes Anderson is married to Tanzerious Anderson,[17] who is currently incarcerated for murder.[18]

On August 2, 2023, Fernandes Anderson was a robbery victim in Boston. While she was surveying an area populated by homeless people, a man grabbed her cell phone and ran away. After summoning the police, officers conducted a search of the homeless encampment, recovered the phone and returned to her. Fernandes Anderson subsequently criticized the Boston Police for allowing details of the crime to be made public. She also criticized the media for reporting the incident, calling it “propaganda.”[19][20]

Electoral history

2021 Boston City Council 7th district election
Candidate Primary election[21] General election[22]
Votes % Votes %
Tania Anderson 2,014 26.7 7,062 73.0
Roy Owens Sr. 1,284 17.0 2,562 26.5
Angelina Comacho 1,256 16.6  
Brandy Brooks 741 9.8  
Lorraine Wheeler 697 9.2  
Santiago Rivera 568 7.5  
Marisa Luse 550 7.3  
Joao DePina 407 5.4  
Write-ins 34 0.5 45 0.5
Total 7,551 100 10,661 100
2023 Boston 7th district City Council election[14]
Candidate Votes  %
Tania Fernandes Anderson (incumbent) 3,710 70.36
Althea Garrison 1,500 28.45
Write-in 63 1.19
Total votes 5,273 100

References

  1. 1 2 Daniel, Seth (September 8, 2021). "D7 candidates list priorities, Janey grade". Dorchester Reporter. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Bedford, Tori (November 3, 2021). "Tania Fernandes Anderson Makes History As Boston's First Muslim City Councilor-Elect". WGBH. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  3. 1 2 Weaver, Lex (July 20, 2021). "City council race: Tania Fernandes Anderson running for District 7". The Scope Boston. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  4. ↑ Grove, Rashad (20 June 2022). "Boston City Council Apologizes for its Role in Slavery". Ebony. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  5. 1 2 Dumcius, Gintautas (June 14, 2023). "Divided councillors vote to send city budget to Mayor Wu after clash over police funds". www.dotnews.com. Dorchester Reporter. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  6. ↑ Multiple sources:
  7. 1 2 Wuthmann, Walter (July 17, 2023). "Mayor Wu says council's budget override violates Boston city charter". WBUR. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  8. ↑ Lannan, Katie. "After backlash, Boston councilor shifts course on 'Hijab Day' resolution". WGBH-TV. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  9. ↑ Multiple sources:
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ Morelli, Jim. "Boston City Councilor admits she hired family members, violated conflict of interest law". Boston 25News. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  12. ↑ "Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson admits violation of conflict of interest law, agrees to pay $5,000 penalty". News7 Boston. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  13. ↑ "Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson fined for hiring family members in ethics breach". CBS News Boston. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  14. 1 2 "Unofficial Election Results". Boston.gov. 29 December 2023. Archived from the original on December 29, 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  15. 1 2 Cawley, Gayla (6 January 2024). "Boston Mayor Wu says city councilor failed to take oath of office at inauguration". The Herald Palladium. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  16. ↑ Farrar, Molly (January 4, 2024). "Boston city councilor appears to not say the oath of office, is reportedly asked to do it again". Boston Globe. MSN. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  17. ↑ Michaud, Jim (31 August 2020). "Ride For Black Lives". Boston Herald.
  18. ↑ "Who Is Tanzerious Anderson?". Anderson & Robinson Project.
  19. ↑ Fortin, Matt. "Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson mugged in Mass. and Cass area". NBC 10 Boston. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  20. ↑ Cristantiello, Ross. "City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson reportedly robbed near Mass. and Cass". Boston.com. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  21. ↑ "2021 District 7 Primary results" (PDF). Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  22. ↑ "City of Boston Municipal Election - November 2, 2021 City Councillor - District 7" (PDF). Boston.gov. 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2024.


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