This fund-raising appeal was not just a deviation from academic norms and from the more scholarly fund-raising efforts Buchanan had spearheaded his entire academic career; it may have broken the law. The center had been chartered as a nonprofit entity, a 501(c)(3), which made it a tax-deductible charity for IRS purposes—a status that requires abstention from partisan activity. And someone, who chose not to reveal his or her identity, took the time to send Buchanan, as well as the chair of the economics department at GMU and the dean of the college, copies of the letter Gramm had sent out,
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