Three months earlier, Fruitport police got a call from Kolkema's girlfriend saying, 'my boyfriend just slapped me.' When police arrived, Kolkema told an officer his girlfriend 'gets like this when she is drunk. The next day, he allegedly threw a Gatorade bottle at his girlfriend and her daughter but missed and hit a lamp.

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. 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. On his campaign website, Kolkema portrays himself as a proud Muskegon native and accomplished lawyer who learned 'compassion, empathy and the importance of service to the community' from his homemaker mother.Ĭourt and police records tell a different story. In a scandalous judicial election that has stirred much debate in western Michigan, the topic of domestic violence has taken center stage as women's rights activists fight to keep Kolkema off the bench, arguing he isn't fit to be judge, especially in cases involving battered women and vulnerable children. When he noticed the onlookers from his window, the 51-year-old lawyer flashed them the peace sign, and has since claimed the video isn't what it seems: He was striking a chair with his belt, not his girlfriend, the woman and his lawyer have maintained.īut the video triggered criminal charges – and a tsunami of public outrage in the city of Muskegon, which borders Lake Michigan and is about 40 miles northwest of Grand Rapids. – 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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