How would you like this man to be a judge at your trial?

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MUSKEGON, Mich. – Two weeks after winning the August primary, judicial candidate Jason Kolkema appeared to viciously whip his girlfriend with a belt during an argument in his western Michigan apartment, presumably unaware that nearby witnesses were recording the scene.

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Kolkema, arraigned Sept. 19 on domestic violence charges, has a history of losing his temper, behaving violently around women and children – including spitting on a 12-year-old girl – and has violated court orders, lied about his relationship with his client-girlfriend, battled an Adderall addiction and failed to pay child support, according to a decade's worth of court and police records reviewed by the Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, and interviews with multiple people tied to him and his girlfriend.

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In 2013, Kolkema's ex-wife filed a domestic assault complaint with the Fruitport police, alleging that Kolkema shoved her in the back and knocked her to the ground during an argument that occurred while she was picking up her children from his parents' house. "

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Two days before the belt incident, Kolkema allegedly spit on his girlfriend's 12-year-old daughter as she slept in his apartment with her mom, despite a court order that prohibited him from being around the girl. He allegedly spewed toothpaste on the girl and her mother, and then threw water on them because he was angry about a previous fight, according to Ottawa County court records. The next day, he allegedly threw a Gatorade bottle at his girlfriend and her daughter but missed and hit a lamp.

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