Mercatus Uses Private Email Server

David Dayen reports in The Intercepts:

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University, a university-based think tank funded by outside interests including the Koch family foundations, uses a private email server for its communications, according to three sources with knowledge of the situation.

The setup allows Mercatus employees to have “@mercatus.gmu.edu” addresses, without the content of the emails passing through the university email system. Under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, emails from a publicly funded university could be considered public records, and having a private email server would help get around that requirement.

Just astonishing.