Sen. Allard no longer accepting constituent e-mails

Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) has told constituents to send e-mails to his successor — a person who won’t be chosen until November and not sworn in until January.

Colorado’s senior senator and an 11-year member of the Senate Banking Committee, who has three-months left in his term, has told his constituents he will no longer respond to e-mails. An Allard spokesman said the step is a necessary move and the senator will still accept calls and letters.

{mosads}Allard posted a note on his Web page that directs constituents to send e-mails to his “successor” — either Democrat Mark Udall or Republican Bob Schaffer, who are facing off in the November election.

“The United States Senate has effectively recessed for the remainder of the year, and will not be considering new legislative proposals. I am retiring, and so my Senate career has also ended,” Allard’s note says. “Accordingly, I feel that your thoughts and views on this matter would be best addressed to my successor. The benefit of hearing from constituents on legislative and governance issues should be extended to Colorado's newest senator and not archived with me.”

Congress's schedule for the rest of the year is unclear, given the uncertainty created by the financial crisis. However, at least one lame-duck session is definite for the week of Nov. 17, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said. Such a session would include normal organizational duties as well as leadership elections. Colorado’s next senator won’t be sworn until Jan. 5.

Steve Wymer, Allard’s communications director, said the senator had no choice because the office receives such a flood of e-mail that it will likely not be able to return each message in Allard’s last three months in office. He emphasized that calls and letters are still acceptable, and all seven of Allard’s Colorado offices are still open.

“The e-mail volume can be tremendous, and instead of having piles and piles of them that go unanswered, we wanted to be frank with constituents,” Wymer said. “The senator has a pretty strict policy of replying to all e-mails, but we get backed up so instead of ignoring them we want to let people know the situation. And frankly, some people are still unaware he’s retiring.”

Allard’s note goes on to thank Coloradoans for their correspondence over his congressional career, noting that his office has mailed more than 2 million constituent letters since his Senate election and that he has held more than 700 town hall meetings.

“I can say honestly that I have relished every opportunity to hear from and explain myself to the people of Colorado,” he said.

None of the Senate's four other retiring members — Larry Craig (R-Idaho), Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) or John Warner (R-Va.) — have any such note posted on their Web sites.

A veterinarian, Allard was elected to the House in 1990 and to the Senate in 1996. His two Senate elections were both close races: He received 51 percent of the vote in 1996 and 50.7 in 2002.

He was the first senator to announce his retirement from Congress’s upper chamber, making his decision known in January 2007.

Udall has consistently led Schaffer in the race for Allard’s seat, although the margin has varied somewhat. The most recent RealClearPolitics average, including polls from Sept. 14 to Oct. 1, puts Udall at 46 percent and Schaffer at 40.

— Mike Soraghan contributed to this article.