Michigan ? Jack Kevorkian in Congress?

That’s what the former Royal Oak, Mich., pathologist and convicted felon, known as Dr. Death for becoming the nation’s chief practitioner of assisted suicide during the 1990s, now wants, a close friend said.

Kevorkian was paroled last June after serving more than eight years in state prison for second-degree murder in connection with the death of one of his patients.

Ruth Holmes of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., said Kevorkian will announce his candidacy as an independent next week. In a published report, Kevorkian said he will run against U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg, a Bloomfield Township, Mich., Republican, because “we need some honesty and sincerity instead of corrupt government in Washington.”

Kevorkian lives in Bloomfield Hills.