Who's behind this flyer? Can someone help me out?

I spotted this one on Facebook. This is typical of a certain type of flyer that one sees around election time: It borrows from the Injustice Watch Check Your Judges Guide; it references the guide without providing a link. It also references, as you will note, negative ISBA ratings for Judges Lorraine Mary Murphy and Tiesha L. Smith. If you would like to read those two negative ratings in their entirety, see this FWIW post.

While we're focused on Judges Murphy and Smith, it should be noted that, unlike the ISBA, the Chicago Bar Association rated both of these judges qualfied for retention. Eleven of the 13 Alliance bar groups also rated Murphy qualified for retention; only the Cook County Bar Association joined the ISBA in making a "no" recommendation on Murphy's retention.

On the other hand, while the CCBA rated Judge Smith qualified for retention, six other Alliance bar groups (besides the ISBA) did not. These were the the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area (AABA), the Decalogue Society of Lawyers (DSL), the Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois (HBA), the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois (HLAI), Chicago’s LGBTQ+ Bar Association (LAGBAC), and the Puerto Rican Bar Association (PRBA).

The Chicago Council of Lawyers rated both Murphy and Smith qualified for retention. The ISBA and the Council are the only two bar groups to publish narrative explanations of their ratings of retention candidates in this election cycle. Here is what the Council had to say about these two candidates:

Lorraine Mary Murphy - Qualified

Hon. Lorraine Mary Murphy was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 2003. She was an Assistant State’s Attorney at the Cook County State’s Attorney Office, where she was First Chair in a felony courtroom at the George Leighton Criminal Courthouse. She was a member of several bar associations, including the Chicago Bar Association, where she served on the Judicial Evaluation Committee.

Judge Murphy is considered to have good legal ability. She is reported to have a good temperament and has been praised for her trial skills. She has substantial experience in complex litigation matters. Judge Murphy is currently assigned to the Second Municipal District. The Council finds her Qualified for retention on the Circuit Court.

Tiesha L. Smith - Qualified

Judge [Tiesha] Smith was elected to the bench in 2020, following an unsuccessful run in 2018. She failed to seek a review of her candidacies in either of those elections and was accordingly rated “Not Qualified” in those elections. She is now seeking Retention. Judge Smith is a 2006 graduate of Chicago Kent College of Law and she was admitted to the bar in 2007. Prior to becoming a judge she practiced for ten years as an Assistant Public Defender in Cook County, where she served primarily in the Child Protection Division.

Following her election she served for less than two years in the Traffic Division and then spent approximately 3 years in the Child Protection Division, where she received generally good reviews. However, in 2024 she transferred to the Juvenile Division, where she hears delinquency matters and has also a second calendar created to meet the needs of minors involved with DCFS.

Since her transfer to the Juvenile Division there have been a number of problems reported with both her temperament and attendance. She has been described by a number of practitioners as having adopted a hostile temperament. After carefully reviewing her record and seeking an agreement from her to attend a Stress Management course, the Council finds her Qualified to continue to serve on the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Please note that I am not criticizing the creators of this flyer for putting their opinions before the public. Nor do I express any opinion about the opinions that the creators of this flyer share about any of the individual judges named; FWIW does not endorse individual candidates. And, obviously, I do not quarrel with the general proposition that a voter should feel free to vote "NO" on any retention judge where the voter has concerns about the judge's record.

But I am curious. Who is putting this flyer before the public?

The flyer itself gives no clues. I thought the motto "One Band, One Sound" might lead me to an answer here, but the only answer I got was that this motto comes from a movie I never saw.

There is nothing illegal, immoral, or fattening about sharing one's endorsements anonymously -- though it might enhance the impact or effectiveness of the endorsements if the endorser's identity were known. Of course, it might lessen the impact, too. But I just want to know. Can anybody out there enlighten us?