First-year Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson hired her sister and her son to her council staff earlier this year, moves that would appear to violate the state’s law that aims to prohibit nepotism in the public sector.
Fernandes Anderson, who made history last fall as the first African immigrant, first formerly undocumented person, and first Muslim to be elected to the city’s legislative body, said in a Friday statement that the matter represented an honest mistake and that she ended their employment as soon as she learned their presence on her staff violated ethics rules.
She hired her sister, Aline Mercury, on Jan. 3 as her director of constituent services. Mercury remained in her role until Aug. 31, according to City Hall documents obtained by the Globe through a public records request.
On July 16, Fernandes Anderson also hired her son, Louis Roca, to manage office operations and help with constituent services, a role he held until Aug. 31, according to the records.
An advisory explaining the Massachusetts law pertaining to nepotism in public office states that “a public official may not hire an immediate family member.” Immediate family is defined in the statute as a “the employee and his spouse, and their parents, children, brothers and sisters.”
“The conflict law prohibits a public employee from participating in any particular matter in which a family member has a financial interest,” reads the advisory. “The decision to hire is a particular matter in...
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