he Justice Department will seek to drop all charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens, whose conviction on corruption charges sparked complaints of prosecutorial misconduct, officials said Wednesday.

The 85-year-old Alaska Republican was convicted late last year on seven felony counts of lying on Senate financial disclosure forms to conceal hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and home renovations from a businessman.

Stevens has appealed his conviction. Problems with the prosecution angered the judge and made it more difficult for the Justice Department to defend the conviction.

Say what you will about Stevens but I wish he still were a Senator and if all of this stuff had not come about he still would have.