Disgraced ex-Boston Metropolis Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson’s photograph was taken down Friday from the fifth-floor Metropolis Council foyer in Metropolis Corridor, the place it remained hanging for per week after her resignation from the physique took impact.
Fernandes Anderson, who was convicted on federal corruption prices in early Could, departed her job as a metropolis councilor on July 4. However her photograph remained hanging alongside skilled portraits of the 12 present councilors for the whole thing of this previous week, in a outstanding publicly-accessible Metropolis Corridor location.
After the Herald inquired Friday about whether or not there have been plans take down the ex-councilor’s photograph from the Metropolis Council foyer, the place guests examine in with a receptionist, Council President Ruthzee Louijeune’s workplace mentioned “the removing was scheduled for at this time.”
When requested what prompted the delay in its removing, Louijeune mentioned in an announcement, “There was no delay.”
“There was vital coordination between metropolis departments who’re busy serving the residents of this metropolis,” Louijeune mentioned. “It is a non-story.”
Councilor Erin Murphy mentioned, nevertheless, that eradicating the disgraced ex-councilor’s photograph ought to have been the next precedence.
“Given Councilor Fernandes Anderson’s federal responsible plea and impending jail sentence, eradicating her portrait on July 4 ought to’ve been quick,” Murphy mentioned in an announcement. “As a substitute, it lingered for per week — a obvious failure to deal with this head on.
“This delay not solely confirmed an absence of accountability but in addition prevented the Council from shifting ahead and clearly separating itself from her actions. Lastly taking it down is overdue. The Council can’t hold avoiding duty like this.”
Fernandes Anderson, 46, pleaded guilty on Could 5 to 2 of six public corruption felony prices that have been lodged towards her in a federal indictment final December, when she was additionally arrested by the feds exterior her Dorchester residence.
The ex-councilor agreed to plead guilty to 2 of the costs — one depend of wire fraud and one depend of theft regarding a federal program — as a part of a plea take care of the U.S. Legal professional’s workplace. The 4 different wire fraud prices have been dropped as a part of the deal she entered into with federal prosecutors in early April.
The costs are tied to a kickback scheme Fernandes Anderson carried out at Metropolis Corridor two years in the past. The then-councilor doled out a $13,000 bonus to one in all her Council staffers, a relative however not quick member of the family, on the situation that $7,000 be kicked back to her. The handoff was coordinated by textual content and came about in a Metropolis Corridor rest room in June 2023, the federal indictment states.
Fernandes Anderson is about to be sentenced in federal court docket on July 29. U.S. Legal professional Leah Foley has really helpful that the ex-councilor be sentenced to a 12 months and a day in prison and ordered to pay $13,000 in restitution.
All that is still now of Fernandes Anderson’s embattled Council tenure is an empty body, set to be stuffed by a photograph of the following District 7 councilor — who will succeed her in representing Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway and a part of the South Finish after the November normal election.
Till then, the District 7 Council body and seat will each remain vacant. — Gayla Cawley
Norfolk DA candidate applauds Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik’s removing
A candidate working for Norfolk County District Legal professional says she is in full help of the Massachusetts State Police removing Sgt. Yuriy Buhkenik from the office.
“I once more applaud MA State Police Colonel Geoffrey Noble for his management in reassigning one other officer from the Norfolk County District Legal professional’s Workplace,” Dedham resident Djuna Perkins said in a social media submit final week, a day after the event got here to gentle.
“As DA, I might have eliminated Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik on day #1, however now that won’t be vital,” the previous assistant lawyer normal and head of the Suffolk County DA’s home violence unit added. “I’ll get rid of the poisonous tradition from the workplace and demand professionalism, integrity, and excellence so each resident of Norfolk County is protected and handled pretty below the regulation.”
Bukhenik’s removing from workplace comes because the fallout from the Karen Learn case spreads. He’s now on a “short-term responsibility project” on the Division of Requirements and Coaching within the Framingham headquarters.
The sergeant, who earned $211,961 in 2024 and has already pulled down $110,851 this 12 months, was beforehand compelled to forfeit 5 days of depart for failing to “correctly supervise” rogue ex-Trooper Michael Proctor, who texted his boss vile observations about Karen Learn that grew to become a central theme within the homicide case.
After two trials, Learn was discovered guilty of just one charge — drunken driving.
Bukhenik’s inauspicious exit from the Norfolk DA’s workplace made him the third trooper linked to the Learn case to be banished.
Proctor was fired in March when Noble accepted the MSP Trial Board’s suggestion to terminate Proctor for failing to uphold company requirements. Det. Lt. Brian Tully was additionally eliminated as head of the detective bureau on the Norfolk DA’s workplace, because the Herald reported in October.
Perkins has known as on Norfolk DA Michael Morrissey to resign from the submit after the jury acquitted Learn of second-degree homicide within the loss of life of her Boston Police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe, a cost Perkins says alerts an inexperienced prosecutor.
The seat shall be up for vote within the November 2026 election. — Lance Reynolds
