Business Bhakta began his career working at the investment banking firm of Violy & Co. in New York City. Bhakta then founded Automovia, a technology startup specializing in the valuation of
pre-owned vehicles. Thereafter, he led the Apex Vail
condominium development project in
Vail, Colorado.
The Apprentice In the fall of 2004, Bhakta appeared on the second season of the business reality television show,
The Apprentice. On the show, Bhakta propositioned
Anna Kournikova and
Donald Trump's assistant to go out with him on dates, and was fired by Trump on the ninth week of the show. His relationships with women became fodder for gossip columns such as
New York Post's Page Six, and his frequent wearing of
bow ties was credited with a surge in bow tie sales.
Political engagement and commentary After appearing on
The Apprentice, Bhakta advocated
Social Security reform in meetings with Congressional leadership. Bhakta was also a guest on
MSNBC and
Fox News and appeared on
CNN's
Crossfire.
2006 Congressional campaign With the support of
Thomas J. Ellis, the Republican chairman of the
Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, he sought and won the Republican nomination for the
13th congressional district. In the
general election, Bhakta lost to incumbent Democrat
Allyson Schwartz by more than 30 points. Bhakta's campaign generated significant national media attention as a consequence of Bhakta's background on
The Apprentice, his attention-getting campaign maneuvers, and his reputation as a
playboy. During the campaign, Bhakta's judgment and fitness to lead were called into question as a result of his having been arrested twice, in 1997 and 2004, for
drunk driving. After reports of the arrests surfaced during the campaign, Bhakta said "I ask for the forgiveness and understanding of the voters, while giving them my solemn pledge that this behavior will not happen again", and said "Politicians today need to come clean". Bhakta said that he got the idea by seeing a Mexican man illegally cross the border by wading across the Rio Grande. Bhakta had a camera to record the man's illegal crossing, and succeeded in getting the man detained by border authorities. The demonstration garnered national attention for Bhakta's campaign. Bhakta was interviewed by
Bill O'Reilly,
Rita Cosby,
Glenn Beck, and
John Gibson. "This is not about the poor Mexican immigrant who wants to come for a better life that's the real problem here," Bhakta said. He added, "The border security is a joke and this is a creative and very effective way of showing it." On November 7, 2006, the
Philadelphia Daily News reported that Bhakta's campaign made "stunning" automated campaign calls to homes in Northeast Philadelphia and Montgomery County detailing the charges in 18 lawsuits against an
abortion clinic founded by Schwartz. ==WhistlePig Whiskey==