Brookfield Physician Runs Super Bowl Ads on His Bid for Governor

A Brookfield physician raised some eyebrows by running ads right before and after the Super Bowl touting his intent to run as an Independent candidate for governor.

Hariprasad "Hari" Trivedi ran a 32-second spot that focused on unemployment, showing statistics on Wisconsin's recent job losses amid national job gains.

"The job situation in Wisconsin is quite dismal," said Trivedi, a kidney specialist and professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. "You will see why there is clearly a need for a change here in Wisconsin."

If a gubernatorial recall election is scheduled and Trivedi runs, it will be his second attempt.

Trivedi ran as an official write-in Independent candidate for governor in the November 2010 Walker-Barrett race, garnering less than one-tenth of one percent of the vote.

Conservative blog freedomeden.blogpost.com said Trivedi ran a local television ad in October 2010 saying he was "disillusioned" with both Scott Walker and Tom Barrett and that voters should "think out of the box." In both the 2010 ad and the Super Bowl Sunday ad, Trivedi appears to be standing in front of the same background wall and artwork.

Trivedi pledged during his 2010 campaign that he would accept a $1 salary as governor until the state's deficit was eliminated.

His wife is also a physician and their three sons attend Brookfield East High School. (The three sons made the same final round of a forensics tournament in Wauwatosa Saturday, with the eldest sibling winning first place.)

According to his web site, trigov.com, Trivedi plans at least for now to self-finance his campaign, saying he is not accepting campaign contributions. The site doesn't appear to list any endorsements and he doesn't have name recognition.  

After his Super Bowl ad ran, game viewers tweeted such messages as:

"@GovWalker is this hairi trivedi guy for real? Everyone has a chance at doing something but really?"

"How am I suppose to support Hari Trivedi for Governer if he isn't on Twitter or Facebook?"

"How did harpirsad trivedi get superbowl facetime for wisconsin??"

"Who IS that guy, and how can he afford local SB ad rates?!?"

Trivedi's website says he opposes cutting funds for education and favors increasing capital in the state by offering "low taxes, incentives to invest in the State, appropriate regulations, but with simplicity and lack of unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles."

He says he supports gun rights, abortion rights, gay rights and medicinal marijuana. Also on his agenda: bolstering the state's agricultural and tourism industries and green efforts such as requiring the planting of two trees for every one cut.

This JSOnline.com blog says he spent about $17,000 on the Super Bowl ad play.

What are your thoughts about a Trivedi campaign for governor? Share in the comments below.