BY TED SHOCKLEY, Eastern Shore Post —
The man challenging Northampton County Treasurer Kristin Willis in the Nov. 3 election complained to an audience at a candidate forum that a circuit judge gave him only a cursory interview for the post earlier this year.
Circuit Judge Lynwood Lewis Jr. appointed Willis to replace Cynthia Bradford effective March 1, after Bradford retired from the office.
Nolan Rayfield, who is challenging Willis in the election, had also submitted his name to be considered for the appointment and was interviewed by the judge earlier this year.
During an Oct. 14 candidate forum hosted by the Cape Charles Historic District Civic League, Rayfield was frank about a closed-door talk with a sitting judge.
“He gave me like five minutes to tell him about myself and then he asked me one question, and that was how I was related to my cousin. I don’t really know how that’s relevant,” Rayfield said at the forum, which was video recorded and posted online.
“When I went and met with him, it was pretty clear that his mind had already been made (up),” Rayfield said.
It was an uncommon moment — a candidate for an elected office on the Eastern Shore of Virginia being publicly critical of a sitting judge.
Lewis’ office did not respond to a request from the Eastern Shore Post for comment.
After the candidate forum Rayfield walked back an incorrect comment he had made. He had said that Taylor Bank, which recently opened a brand-new bank branch in Cape Charles, is not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The bank has been insured by the FDIC since Jan. 1, 1934, said M. Dean Lewis, the bank’s chief executive and president, in an Oct. 19 letter issued in the wake of Rayfield’s comment.
Lewis wrote that his letter was “to correct misinformation recently presented in a public forum.”
In a Facebook post, Rayfield apologized for the mistake and said he had been incorrect during the forum.
Rayfield also questioned at the forum the business practices of Taylor Bank, saying “they use their customers’ funds for their own financing activities,” including “advertising” and “payroll.” Rayfield works for Atlantic Union Bank.
At the end of the meeting an attendee asked Rayfield if he was “driving business to your bank by saying that Taylor Bank’s cheating people out of their money by using it for their own use.”
“I’m not, but I’m not opening up any personal accounts there myself,” Rayfield responded.
In the letter, Taylor Bank defended its banking methods.
“Taylor Bank operates under a traditional community banking model, using customer deposits solely for lawful banking activities, including funding loans in communities it serves and maintaining appropriate liquidity, in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements,” Lewis wrote.
Rayfield said he was concerned that Northampton County has accounts with PNC Bank, which is closing its Eastville branch. He said he had not heard that the county had transferred its accounts to a different bank.
Willis said while her office does bank with PNC through a treasury management system, all of the deposits are remote.
“That has nothing to do with a bank branch,” she said.
She said treasurer’s office staffers use the time they once spent running to the bank to serve the public in the office.
