Political operative accused of plying Solis with Viagra, arranging massage parlor trips is slapped with $25K fine for unregistered lobbying

A veteran political operative who supplied FBI mole Danny Solis with a steady supply of Viagra and authorities allege arranged for the former alderman to receive sex acts has been slapped with a $25,000 fine for failing to register as a lobbyist.

The Chicago Board of Ethics' hefty fine against Roberto Caldero comes eight months after the Sun-Times blew the lid off charges against Solis that prompted the former alderman to spend two years wearing a wire to help the feds build their corruption case against indicted Alderman Edward Burke.

The board concluded there was "probable cause to conclude" that Caldero, a close associate of former U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, had "engaged in several acts of unregistered lobbying in 2015" in violation of the city's ethics ordinance.

Last Friday, the board met with Caldero and his attorney and gave them an opportunity to refute its finding that "the facts available to the board demonstrated he engaged in unregistered lobbing in several attempts to influence a city elected official on behalf of a client with respect to taking city action in both a legislative matter and an administrative matter."

Since Caldero and his attorney did not refute the finding, the board found unanimously that Caldero had, in fact, "engaged in unregistered lobbying" and assessed the $25,000 fine.

"I'm disappointed in the decision," Caldero said Monday. "We will appeal it and look for other avenues to resolve this issue."

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