Just in time for April Fools Day, the Justice Department said it will be dropping its corruption case against Ted Stevens, the guy once known as “Washington’s third Senator”. Stevens was convicted in October of failing to report a bunch of gifts (including a home remodel paid for by an oil company), but it turns out the DOJ had withheld evidence from his defense team–a big no-no, and one for which Judge Emmet Sullivan held the government lawyers in contempt in February, calling their behavior “outrageous.”You’ll probably recall that Stevens was well known for keeping his state atop the list of pork-barrel spenders, and was a chief force behind the “Bridge to Nowhere.” (Thanks? No, thanks?) He also introduced us to the series of tubes.But Stevens, who is buddies with Patty Murray, spent plenty of time hooking up Washington as well, particularly with legislation that benefited the shipping and aerospace industries. (See, e.g. Laura Onstot’s piece on local fish stick king Chuck Bundrandt.) In fact, he was so effective in this regard that Seattle was second to only Anchorage as a donor base for the former Senator. Now that Stevens is no longer facing sentencing, he can probably stop soliciting donations to his legal defense fund. Where does Seattle rank on that? The fund–which under Senate rules could not get donations from corporations or unions (House defense funds can)–opened in August and didn’t have to report until January, a deadline it failed to meet. And sadly, it doesn’t have to report online at all. So if you really want to know, you’ll have to wait for him to file, then go down to DC and visit the Office of the Capitol to have a look.