Politics

Political operative who worked in Alaska accused of violence in ‘sex slave’ relationship

JUNEAU — A political operative who formerly worked in Alaska is being accused by his ex-fiancee of making her his sex slave, according to a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Ben Sparks, a Republican political consultant who managed U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan's campaign in 2014, gave the woman a "signed contract laying out her duties as a 'slave-in-training' " to Sparks, according to the report, published Wednesday.

Sparks was fired last week from his position at a political consulting firm amid a police investigation into a March 29 domestic dispute at his ex-fiancee's home. Charges are pending against him, according to the Review-Journal's report.

The report said the ex-fiancee's contract forced her "to kneel and look down when she entered his presence, be nude at all times, have sexual relations with him whenever he wanted and wear a collar in private."

"He was very demanding and did not take 'no' for an answer," the woman told the Review-Journal. "Over the last month it escalated into very rough sex where he'd actually hurt me. He backhanded me … and forced himself on me."

Sparks did not immediately respond to a voicemail from an ADN reporter Thursday. He did not respond to emails and phone calls from the Review-Journal, the paper reported.

Sullivan, in a prepared statement, called the allegations and reports about Sparks "shocking and extremely disturbing."

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"Sen. Sullivan strongly condemns any and all instances of domestic violence, and has worked throughout his career to end the scourge of violence against women," the statement said.

Sparks also worked in Alaska in 2015 and 2016 for a coalition of business groups led by GCI, the telecommunications company.

The coalition was trying to convince the Alaska Legislature to use a portion of the Permanent Fund's investment earnings to balance Alaska's budget crisis.

Nathaniel Herz

Anchorage-based independent journalist Nathaniel Herz has been a reporter in Alaska for nearly a decade, with stints at the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Public Media. Read his newsletter, Northern Journal, at natherz.substack.com

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