Hardy Campaign Adviser Fired After He Made Ex-Fiancee His ‘Slave’
Benjamin Sparks was fired from consultant’s job working on Rep. Cresent Hardy’s campaign

Benjamin Sparks, a political strategist who has worked on several high-profile Republican campaigns over the last decade, was fired in March from his position working on former Rep. Cresent Hardy’s campaign after police responded to a domestic dispute between Sparks and his then-fiancee.
It turns out Sparks and his fiancée had signed a contract in November making the woman his “slave in training,” the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, citing text messages, emails and a copy of the contract the ex-fiancee shared with the publication.
The contract, signed a day after the two began dating, stated that she would be Sparks’ “slave and property.” She was forced to kneel and look down when she entered his presence, be nude at all times, have sex with him whenever he wanted and wear a collar when they were in private, the Review-Journal reported.
“He was very demanding and did not take no for an answer,” Sparks’ ex-fiancée said. “Over the last month it escalated into very rough sex where he’d actually hurt me. He back-handed me … and forced himself on me.”
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When Sparks asked via text message to bind and blindfold her and have other men have sex with her in front of him, that’s where she drew the line.
When police responded to a call from their home the next day, March 29, Sparks had fled. Police found the ex-fiancée with no nail on one of her fingers and a bruise on her left thumb. She did not show signs of intoxication or being under the influence of narcotics, the report noted, according to the newspaper.
Sparks left all his belongings at the Las Vegas home and broke for Texas, his ex-fiancée said.
There is “probable cause to arrest Sparks for domestic battery,” police said.
Sparks, 36, was political affairs director for RedRock Strategies, a political consulting firm in Washington, D.C., with an office in Las Vegas. Before he was fired last week, he had been working on Hardy’s campaign to win back Nevada’s 4th District, which the former congressman represented from 2015 to 2017.
He had also done work for Republican Yvette Herrell, who is campaigning for New Mexico’s 2nd District seat.
Both RedRock Strategies and Hardy did not return multiple calls for comment, the Review-Journal reported. Herrell declined to comment on the story.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hammered Hardy for declining to provide comment on the situation.
“This news is beyond disturbing, and Cresent Hardy owes the people he hopes to represent an explanation,” DCCC spokesman Drew Godinich said. “Silence is simply unacceptable.”
Sparks previously worked as a top communications aide and spokesman for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.