Indicted Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson headed off an enforcement action from state campaign finance regulators Tuesday, with the late filing of a report that detailed more than $4,000 in political contributions and spending.
Fernandes Anderson, who paid $1,750 to settle prior violations of the state’s campaign finance law last fall and was federally indicted weeks later on six public corruption charges, was warned last week by the Office of Campaign and Political Finance that its legal department would step in if she failed to file the report.
The Feb. 4 “audit follow-up” warning was the second audit notice the OCPF had sent to Fernandes Anderson seeking a deposit report for more than $4,000 in campaign contributions and recorded clarity on expenditure information that totaled about $2,573.
The councilor was first notified on Jan. 16 for that particular deposit and expenditure information, OCPF records show. Last week’s notice came with a warning, however, that further failure to comply would result in further action.
“Your response to this letter is required by Feb. 18, 2025,” OCPF Director William Campbell wrote to Fernandes Anderson. “This date cannot be extended since this is the second letter OCPF has sent to request information.
“Failure to respond to this letter by the aforementioned date will result in referring the matter to OCPF’s legal department,” Campbell wrote.
The OCPF in its audit notice ordered Fernandes Anderson to clarify campaign expenditure information that included a $14.47 purchase at Claudia Market and a $492.92 purchase at Restaurant Cesaria, a Cape Verdean restaurant in Dorchester.
It also sought a missing deposit report for a $4,180 bank deposit that was made by the councilor on Dec. 26.
Jason Tait, a spokesman for OCPF, said the missing report and expenditure information was filed by Fernandes Anderson at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, and that state campaign finance regulators considered the issue to be resolved.
The report lists 13 political contributions for Dec. 26 that totaled $4,332 and ranged from $7 to the state’s maximum allowable individual donation of $1,000. The councilor’s filing also lists roughly $151 in “merchant provider fees.”
The net deposit is listed at $4,180.62, according to OCPF records.
Fernandes Anderson offered a brief comment when reached by the Herald. She acknowledged being late on filing the reports, which she said were due by Feb. 5.
“I was late,” Fernandes Anderson said. “All issues resolved.”
Last November, the OCPF determined that Fernandes Anderson violated “multiple provisions” of state campaign finance law.
The violations included her failure to report the lion’s share of more than $30,000 in campaign contributions in a timely fashion and her receipt of individual contributions in excess of the $1,000 individual state limit.
Fernandes Anderson agreed to pay $1,750 to the state to settle the matter.
Weeks later, in early December, the second-term city councilor was indicted and arrested by federal authorities on public corruption charges that allege she ripped off thousands of dollars from taxpayers.
Fernandes Anderson is alleged to have doled out a $13,000 bonus to one of her City Council staff members, also a relative, on the condition that $7,000 be kicked back to her. The handoff took place in a City Hall bathroom in June 2023, according to the indictment.
The councilor, who has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges and has defied calls to resign, was hit with a state ethics violation and agreed to pay a $5,000 fine in July 2023 for hiring her sister and son to paid positions on her Council staff.
She also gave her immediate family members raises, and in the case of her sister, tacked on a $7,000 bonus, in violation of the state’s conflict of interest law, the state ethics commission said at the time.
Fernandes Anderson represents Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway and part of the South End as the District 7 city councilor. She was first elected in November 2021.