Rep. Jennie Armstrong was off on a romantic adventure when she came to Alaska in May of 2019. Little did she know she’d fall madly in love with an Anchorage guy, and end up moving here. But after a whirlwind 10-day trip, she was head over heels in love or something like love, and she went back to Louisiana, packed up, and moved to Alaska.
She’ll be sworn in as a member of the Alaska House of Representatives on Tuesday, even though she had just received her first Permanent Fund dividend when she filed for office.
She is qualified enough, decided two of the three-justice panel, in mid-afternoon on Friday. While Justice Susan Carney said she would not have found Armstrong a qualified candidate, Chief Justice Daniel Winfree and Justice Jennifer Henderson bought the romance story — hook, line, and sinker.
When exactly did Armstrong become an Alaska resident? By her attorney Scott Kendall’s determination, it’s practically the minute she fell in love that year. By the arguments of opposing counsel, Stacey Stone, it wasn’t until Armstrong came back to Alaska that she actually showed objective intent to move here, by evidence of her one-way ticket. Everything else is entirely he-said, she-said subjective.
That one way ticket brought her back to Alaska in June of 2019, not a month earlier, when she came up for a frisky fling.
A lower court judge had ruled on Monday that he was taking Armstrong’s word for it that when she arrived in Alaska, she and her crush had long talks into the night and at some point she decided to move.
Essentially, the adventuress from Louisiana has barely scraped by the deadline for residency in order to qualify for running for office in 2022. She has won her case twice in Alaska court and will now serve as a Democrat for House District 16, West Anchorage.
With the ruling upheld, there is no reason single women arriving Alaska can’t be given condoms and their Permanent Fund dividend applications by an Alaska Airlines flight attendant just before landing. After a wild fling, they can hook themselves a husband (goods are odd but odds are good) and in no time at all can be serving in the Alaska Legislature.
It’s such things that Alaska-based reality shows are made of.
