John, Common Cause is taking a serious financial hit to ensure we remain an independent voice for We The People and nobody else.

Some background: last month, California voters received a mailer that falsely implied we oppose the state drawing new maps to counterbalance Texas and other states' pro-GOP gerrymanders. [1]

The source of these mailers? California billionaire Charles Munger Jr. – who we’ve worked with in the past on fair redistricting, and is now bankrolling the campaign against California’s ballot measure.

So, we wrote to Mr. Munger, demanding that he remove our name from his mailers and returning a $200,000 contribution we received from him last month to support our voter education work. [2]

That’s serious money – especially for an organization like Common Cause, and especially when we’re already stretching every dollar we’ve got as American democracy faces truly unprecedented threats.

But Common Cause is not for sale. Our principles, and the mission that you’ve entrusted us with, must always come first.

You see, when we announced we wouldn’t oppose California’s redistricting plan – because it complied with the fairness criteria our experts developed – nearly all of you who wrote back (over 95%) said you agreed with our decision.

But Mr. Munger didn’t … as we learned from a few angry phone calls. But with the lion’s share of members like you on one side, and one billionaire on the other – we had to go with the majority, not the money.

Common Cause won’t be bought. That’s what we said in our letter to Munger, and we hope it’s as important to you as it is to us.

That’s because while we’re confident in our decision, $200,000 isn’t an amount we can just write off.

We’re going to need to make this money up somewhere… or scale back our work – at the same moment Trump’s GOP is eyeing states like Ohio, Florida, and Missouri to push his election-rigging scheme.

So, we're writing to you in hopes that members like you will agree we did the right thing, and back that belief up with action.

Don’t worry, John: We're not asking you for $200,000. But, I am hoping that every person reading this can chip in $20, or whatever you can spare, as an investment in the independent, fearless, and resilient Common Cause our nation desperately needs right now >>

If you've saved your info with ActBlue, we'll process your contribution instantly:

We hope we can count on your support for our common cause,

The team at Common Cause

[1] https://www.commoncause.org/california/articles/did-you-get-this-mailer/
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/us/political-neutrality-redistricting-california.html